Aimer le Poème
by Rememberance of Something
Summary: There is a place where mutants are fought like animals for entertainment Gambit has been there for one and a half years Rouge just arrived Can love bloom in a place where you have to slay your innocent brothers and sisters for entertainment or be slain?
1. Chapter One: Remy Gambit

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own X-Men._

_**Note:** Boy this was a long chapter and I hoped you liked it. I love this story idea and I just had to right it! I was thinking about doing an X-Men and Naruto crossover, any suggestions or ideas? I hope Remy (Gambit) accent is right because it was really hard to do. Some how in my first draft I made him have a Jamacian accent. I dunno how that happened but my sister had to help me fix it. I totally plan on drawing my versions of Rouge and Gambit so it you like this then I'll post the pictures on my deviantart account for everyone to see. I'll probably post them even if this story isn't liked. Haha. But for some reason I have a gut instinct this will be loved in its all cute romantic way. TRUST ME! ^_________^ 3_

_This story contains alot of french because of Remy (Gambit) so here are what the phrases mean._

_1. "I have to go."_

_2. "I'm sorry."_

_3. "My girlfriend, I must go."_

_4. "I don't understand."_

_5. "Excuse me!"_

_6. "I'm sorry."_

_7. "It's my fault, pardon me."_

_8. "I want to go."_

_9. "A pretty little girl no doubt."_

_10. "There is no other girl for me. I'll see you later."_

_11. "Asshole."_

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"_What about dignity? You will die and when you die you will know a profound lack of it. It's never dignified, always brutal. What's dignified about dying? It's never dignified. And in obscurity? Offensive. Dignity is an affectation, cute but eccentric, like learning French or collecting scarves. And its fleeting and incredibly mercurial. And subjective. So fuck it."_

_----Dave Eggers from __A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_

_**Chapter One**_

_(Remy Lebeau aka Gambit)_

_Someone shifted under his arm, her body heaving up and down, up and down, and then a great sigh. She groaned as he started to move, and then turned to face him, her amber eyes piercing through to him in a groggy sleep._

_[1] __"A' tout-a'-l'heure," he informed her quietly kissing her forhead, "Go bac ta sleep."_

_She blinked and then rose up allowing the white sheets to fall around her, "'Ere can yo' be goin'? It's not eve eight yet."_

_[2]__ "Je suis desole'" he mumbled stepping on to the floor and glancing around for his pants. They were lying on the ground next to the door where he had thrown then last night during their moment of passionate closeness._

"_Remy," she whined, her stark black hair messy around her bronze skin, she was so beautiful to him. She was like his own copper angel sent to him from Heaven to save him from the sin city of America, New Orleans. And he loved her for that. She was his best friend, his lover, his confidant, and yet he kept the deepest secret about himself from her, "Remy pleas don go. 'Tay wit' me."_

_[3] __"Bella. Bella," he shook his head and then added in French, "Ma petite amie, je dois partir."_

_She frowned and glared at him, her eyes sullen, "Fine go tha!"_

_[4] __He shook his head, "Je ne comprends pas. I'm doin' tis for us!"_

"_No!" she yelled standing on top of the bed in her anger, pointing an accusing finger at him, __[5] __"Excusez-moi! Ya go becuz' ya wanna not becuz' ya haft ta!"_

"_Eh?" he inquired with an arched eyebrow, "And wha da of Julian petite?"_

"_Wha da of him?" she demanded placing her hands on her hips._

"If_ I don go ten he wilt hate me even more tan he already doez and ya know it!"_

_[6] __Her eyes teared, salty water threatening to spill, "Je suis desole. I just hate wen ya leavez."_

_He nodded his head at her apology and said his own, __[7]__ "C'est entierement de ma faute. Pardonnez."_

_She gave a small smile and settled back on the bed, pulling the sheets around her nude form as he dressed himself. He pulled on his pants, which were made of darker black material than the normal beige or cargo pants, she said, fiddling with the ring he had given her when he had prposed, "Remy wen wilt ya be bac'?"_

"_So'n,"he replied pulling on a white wife beater and over that a maroon red shirt with a strip of white down the front and written in cherry red letters said: REBELLION._

_He managed to pull on an alligator tooth necklace, meant to keep him protected and safe, before she questioned him once more __[8]__, "Je veux partir."_

_He slipped on his second, and much shorter necklace of a bear claw (given to him by his deceased cousin for strenght and wisdom), before he he hestiantly replied, trying not to sound angry with her, "No, sorrie petite but tist is my work, its to dangerouz."_

_"My grandfather taugt me tat tric of stealin' before we ever met, why can't I go?"_

_He slipped on a simple black ring on his thumb, two silver rings on his index and pinkie finger, and dressed the other fingers with knotted rings made of thread that Bella had woven him. His attire on his other hand was similar to the first he had dressed, he finished declorating both hands before he slipped an old black bananda over his right to hide a tatto of three numbers: 24 56 7. After all this was done he replied to her, "His isn't here."_

_Changing the subject she pointed to a braclet made up of simple red, yellow, green, and black thread, "Where ya get tat?"_

_He slipped it over his wrist, and responded nonchanlantly, "Someone gav it ta me a while ago."_

_[9]"Une assez petite fille sans doute," she pouted laying back down on the bed._

_[10] He didn't reply as he placed two gold hoops half the siz of a dime in his right ear and slide on his leather jacket which danced at his knees, and then to his grumbling fiance he said, "Ne soyez pas tristes que vous soyez les seuls pour moi. Je reviendrai plus tard."_

_She grunted, turned to face the wall, and gave him the shoulder treatment as he went out the door._

He opened his eyes to find a wall was staring him in the face, but it wasn't any wall it was the wall of a prison. He tried to sit up, to focus on his surroundings but there really wasn't anywhere for his eyes to absorb details. He had been there for nearly a year and a half, the exact details of his capture were sketchy to him. There had been a girl involved in some way or another. Not Bella. Someone else. Someone he knew from deeper in his past. Someone he had forgotten the name of.

He tried to adjust his body into a more comfortably position and relized that he couldn't. There were chains on his wrist that locked him to the bed and prevented him from trying to escape. He glanced at the source of his pain: his knuckles. The skin had peeled itself away so deep that some of his bone was actually starting to show through. They weren't in the best condition but he had had worst.

"Well lookie who's up?" a piggy voice questioned as a large man entered the room wearing an eye patch.

He remembered the man very well.

_"You got a problem with me punk?" a man called Pig snarled grabbing a fifteen year old Remy by his shirt and throwing him down to the floor._

_Remy regained his feet and snapped, "Yea I do!"_

_"Come on Rem don..." Etienne cautioned helping his cousin up by the arm._

_"Why don't ya listen to the kid?" Pig demanded, "After all from this day forward I am your owner and you are my dogs and as such you should listen to me."_

Remy growled under his breath but said nothing as Pig came closer with a key to his chains, "How are you knuckles punk? I hope well because after our new comers fight your up. I think three days in the clinic is enough don't ya?"

"Wat new comers?" he finally asked after his wrists were let go and set free from the bed.

"We've just recieved three very interesting specimans who need homes: one girl and two men. Maybe you'll get lucky ole boy and the chick will win," he giggled at his joke.

[11] "And how woud tat affect me, connard?" Remy demanded as he got up from the bed he had been a prisoner of for three days and allowed the other man out of the small hospital and into a long, snaking hallway.

"Considering the circumstances of your room, since your roommate die," Remy flinched at the thought of the man who had been a friend of his for nearly fourteen months death, "We have an open spot, two even, and whoever wins is your new roomy. I doubt the girl will, when we recieved her her forms only said: UNKNOWN. No lable or anything. Its a real shame she'll have to die considering she is quite the sight. But anyways several men asked the boss if they could _keep_ her," he giggled in a dark way causing Remy to visualize slamming his head into the wall, "but the boss said 'No'."

Neither said anything after this as they walked into the fighting area. The lights were bright and people were everywhere cheering and booing as two men attacked each other from the rink. The rink was a dome surrounded in special made glass that was controlled by a source kept secret from the prisoners. A mutant no doubt that could neutralize all powers and keep them contained. Pig lead Remy down a strip of screaming on viewers and up a flight of stairs where all the modern day galdators sat waiting for their turn.

There was a perfect, up close view of the fighting from his spot that he was chained to. He could see every little blood speck and every little sweat drop, because the prisoners benches were level with the rink while the poorer class sat at a lower level veiwing the fight and the upper class viewed from up top recieving the 'birds eye view'.

"Oh," the pig squealed, "It looks like Target won this one. Better go make the announcements."

A few minutes after he had wobbled out of the room a voice cut through the crowd asking if the life of the man called Blue should me spared. The crowd screamed boos and some held their thumbs down signaling for Target to slaughter the other. And so he did.

Remy didn't look away.

He was immune to death now.

"Now ladies and gentlemen we have a special treat for you tonight, we are goin' to have Atom face three new comers," he paused for dramatic affect as the crowd cheered and the clean up crew empty the area of the body and the victor, "And here is ATOM! We all know this giant anywhere!"

Atom entered the arena wearing only a loose fitting pair of jeans and lacking all other manners of clothes and shoes. His blad head shone in the well lit rink as he lifeted his arms to the crowd. They all admired his muscles and cheered even more loudly.

'Heatens,' he thought to himself shaking his head as Atom walked by.

"And our three contestants!" his voice roared on, "From Russia we have Shovk who can control electricity."

Shovk recieved several boos as his small form enter the ring; he couldn't have been over sixteen only three years younger than Remy. He glanced around the arena with wide blue eyes the exact shade of ice. He tumbled to the ground, someone had thrown a shoe at him hitting him in the back of the head, and his glass slid to Remy's own feet. He reached down, straining against his short chains, to pick up the glasses for the boy who had regained his footing.

"Shanks," the boy mumbled taking back the glasses as his escort pushed him forward.

"Don loze," Remy warned before he was out of ear shot.

The boy, Shovk, nodded, desparatingly wanting him to know he would take the advice.

"And next we have Firecracker!" Pig screamed, "A hot-headed flame thrower from Texas!"

The next to enter the ring was a Mexican thirty-year-old man who didn't seem to understand what was going on. His ebony eyes darted to and from each side of the stage. Remy nodded his head to try and give the man new confidence. The man, seeming to understand simple gestures of kindness, smiled, beaming his crooked teeth for the New Orlean's native to see. There was more booing from the crowd.

"And the last of our new comers," the announcer paused, "is an unknown mutant. She is a southern bell, give it up for the Rouge."

Three men pushed a struggling girl into the entrance of the arena, she kicked, they dropped her, and she fell right on top of Remy. He was overcome with shock, awe, anger, and pity as she looked up at him.

_"Where is it?" a girl's voice demanded, a thick accent of the south embedded in it, he had heard the voice before but couldn't place it to any features._

_Remy didn't turn around, but simply kept playing his poker game and said, "Wat is tis?"_

_"You know what!" she hissed, "I wont ask again, tell me where it is or else!"_

_"Or elze wat?" he snapped turning to face the girl. _

_She couldn't have been two years younger than he was. She had dark brown hair with highlights of red through out it. Two long streaks of white were pulled back on top of her head with pins to keep them out of her stunningly angry green eyes. She wore a long, hooded wool coat that danced at her ankles where a pair of black leather boots met it. He notice she was wearing a leather black glove on her left hand and held a matching glove in that same hand while her right hand remained bare. She wore her coat buttoned up so he couldn't see the shirt she was wearing but he was capable of seeing the lime green scarf around her neck._

_He felt an excrushinating pain explode from his cheek and burn through his blood stream. He could see Pig standing in front of him as he tattooed the three numbers: 24 56 7 on his wrist four years ago. The girl stood behind the two figures of his memories wide eyed and terrified._

_Everything turned white._

_The memory switched to a boy and a girl sitting in a bedroom; there wasn't much significant about the room, plain walls covered in cut out magazine pictures. There was a large map of North America counter to him with pins in it._

_"And where will you go?" the boy question with a raised eyebrow._

_"Everywhere!" the girl shouted as she crawled beside him._

_She looked about thirteen and he looked about fiften._

_"Everywhere?" he inquired leaning in for a kiss and when their lips tpuched he began to siezure and the girl screamed._

_Remy looked to a corner where the elder version of the same girl stood; she stormed toward him and screamed, "Get out of my head!"_

_Everything went black._

"You," he managed as the girl looked up from the floor, "You're tha reason I'm here!"

"What are you-" she couldn't finish as a guard jerked her by her arm and began shoving her toward the door of the rink.

"You did tis to me!" Remy yelled at her as the dome closed.

"Now that the introductions are over," Pig's voice spoke through the crowd, "How 'bout some entertainment?"

Remy was unable to take his eyes off the shaking girl. He knew her from somewhere else too. He shook off the sense of da ja vu for the time being. He wanted her to pay for him being there and yet he felt sorry for her at the same time. He wanted to rescue her before the innocence in her eyes faded away to nothinginess.

He was growing soft he was sure of it.

Atom started off with his usual explosions, sending one striaght forShovk. He wanted to help the quaking boy who seemed frozen from fear, but his chains prevented him from it.

"Hold it!" Pig screamed in protest over the crowd, "Hold it!"

Atom paused as the dust cleared.

A deep gasp exclaimed by the crowd after the dust cleared, revealing the girl laying on the ground next to an uninjured Russian crying in pain, was the only thing heard in the otherwise quiet from shock arena. Remy was on his feet as the events sunk in and the crowd began to cheer with glee. After a few minutes Shovk helped the girl to her feet as many wounds started to heal themselves at once.

"Did you see that?" a voice whispered behind Remy, "She's a healer."

"Her collar isn't working," another pointed out.

She had more than just healing powers he was sure of it. She had simply touched him and caused him to pass out. Not only that but they had shared each other's memories as well. He shook his head. There was no way she was simply a powerful healer. No she was much more than that and her powers were much stronger than their captors had clearly suspected.

The girl looked up at his standing form, her eyes enterwining with his own gaze.

She knew who he was.


	2. Chapter Two: Marie Rouge

_**Note:** Ha-ha. So here is the second chapter of this story. To me honest I wrote this about a month ago but then I got caught up in a One-Shot called Passion Flowers & Cajun Spices. I'm acutally almost done with it then I'll post it on Fanfiction. For anyone that actually cares I've created my own site called: ., so if you want to check out Passion Flowers & Cajun Spices before I post it here then just go to that web page. My actual goal is to get all the fanfictions I'm writing on my site._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own the X-men._

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_To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead._

_---__Bertrand Russell__from __Marriage and Morals_

**Chapter Two**

_(Anna Marie aka Rouge)_

Marie stared up from the rink as her body healed itself. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there or even where _there_ was. What she did understand was that she was a prisoner. The Russian boy, Shovk, had reminded her of her adoptive brother Kurt but that may have just been the odd European accent he sported. It was a natural instinct for her to jump to the air of someone so when the large bald man had attacked she was at the boy's defense. Ever since she had absorbed Logan's powers the night he had accidently stabbed her, she could never quite shake them. They seemed a bit slower now that she was wearing the strange collar that had been forced around her neck.

"Well it seems," the announcer's voice boomed over he head, "We have now classified the Rouge as a healer. Too bad for her, it probably would've been better for her to have a more active power. Will the guards please go in and remove all the collars."

She could hear the stadium roar. Her stomach dropped as she realized that this was some sort of game. Several, men entered the rink and one by one remover her fellow freshman gamers' collars. Her attention averted from the potential danger of the guards, her green eyes meeting his brown ones. He looked familiar, yet somehow his memory seemed to elude her when she had fallen on top of him. But now it was slowly coming to her.

_She had been walking the roads of New Orleans for hours now with no apparent destination in her foresight. Men and women wore beautiful masks and long beaded necklaces that they had earned from each other. Several cars drove past her bonking their horns and even a couple would whistle to her. Her, then, long hair fell around her covered shoulders in an auburn fall. She wore gloves that reached the top of her arms and met with the short sleeves of her dark purple shirt. As she walked, the boots she wore up mid-way to her calf crunched on top of the dirt and the light, black skirt she wore swayed un the wind, every now and then she would have to dust off the stockings she wore due to the loose, swirling dust of the streets._

_He had been standing on the opposite side of the road the first time she had ever laid eyes on him. His hair, darker than hers and yet somehow redder, was short and shaggy around his face. At his side there were two girls giggling as he shuffled a deck of cards and leaned against the wall of a restaurant._

_He looked up just as they were level and their eyes met, she was unsure of what to do. He flashed a smile and motioned for her to come to him. She shook her head, what had the woman with blue skin warned her? Not to trust anyone, and that was a promise she was intending on keeping._

_The feeling of panic rose in her stomach as he frowned kicked off the wall, and started to cross the street. She didn't intend on waiting for him to catch up but instead cut into a restaurant and out the back much to the chef and waiter's protesting. She didn't see the boy again as the day metaphase into night time._

_She had been cutting and slicing through the many different alley ways to avoid the crowds as much as possible. She could hear the excited laughter of drunken women and the howls of instigating men as she walked down the vacant alley. It wasn't until the end of the second alley that she noticed two drunken men a head of her. Thinking it better to turn around than to confront them she started to head back the way she came hoping desperately they hadn't seen her, but they had._

"_Hey pretty lady," one called at her, "Where are you going?"_

_She didn't respond, only started walking faster with her head held down, unfortunately the way she came was nearly half a mile back._

"_Hey!" one of the men actually grabbed her by her gloved wrist, forcing her to turn around, "What's the hurry?"_

"_Let go!" she ordered him jerking her wrist away from him._

"_Touch-i-e," one of them chuckled._

"_No kidding," the other agreed taking a swig from the paper bag in his right hand._

_"Look,' she held up her gloved hands, "i don't wany any trouble I'm just passing through."_

_She was fourteen at the time, a year since she had ran away from home after putting her first boyfriend in a coma. She wasn't sure how she ended up in New Orleans. The only thing that she was sure of was that her skin was deadly._

_"Well miss-ie," a drunk man staggered forward, "Niether do we, what-a-cawinkie-dink!"_

_"Yeah," his buddy slurred on, "We just want to have fun."  
_

_"Well," her southern accent was engrained in her words, "Find someone else cuz' I don't wanna have 'fun'."_

_She tried to pass one of them but the other instantly blocked her way, "Why not?"_

_She glanced around the busy streets, surely a town full of life would notice these two and save her. But no one was coming to her aid, sure plenty of people saw but no one even lifted an eyebrow to her aid._

_"Hey listen," one of the men began, "Why not just come chill with us for a lil' bit? Eh?"_

_"Don you two haft someting better to do?" a boy demanded behind them; he couldn't have been more than sixteen at the time._

_'Bud out boy," one of the drunks snapped, "This isn't any concern of yours."_

_"Well," the boy smirked, "When a pretty chere' is in trouble Remy must save the day."_

_Noticing he was the same boy from earlier that day, she didn't bother to hang around to find out who won and who lost the fight. She had already killed one man; she wasn't willing to stick around and kill three more. She slipped between the two men and past the teenage John Wayne want-a-be, and into the Marti Gras streets. it wasn't until later that night as she sat at a bar sipping on water that she saw the boy again for the third time. He had slipped in between her and a drunken cougar who had set her elderly heart on the handsomely flirtaous bar tender, "The name is Remy."_

_She didn't look up fromher water while ignoring his out stretched hand. 'Trust nobody,' she repeated in her head, 'Trust nobody.'_

_"What tis your name petite?" he seemed unphased by her rudeness._

_"Look," she warned him, "I don't have anything that I can give for helping me so if thats what you're after then you can forget it."_

_"Remy's not after anything petite," he responded seeming unphased by the harsh words she had spat at him. He pulled out a deck of cards and went on to say, "Tey say its fate when two people meet three times in one day."_

_She snorted, looked at him, and demanded, "What do you want?"_

_"A name?"_

_She gave into his charms for a moment and allowed his request, "Marie."_

_"Well Marie," he grinned crookedly, "its dangerous on tese streets try to be more careful."_

_She nodded._

_"Don trust many people eh?" he questioned, "I don trust many people either."_

_She said nothing, the television had caught her attention. On the news the body of a man had been found at a bus station in Mississippi- she shivered. He had taken no notice of the report but went on to state, "Thats a pretty necklace you have there chere'."_

_She met his eyes with her own, "It was my mother's."_

_"Oh," he whistled, "Better hold on to that ten."_

_"Yeah," her eyes wandered to his knuckles where tattooed across them were: a heart, a diamond, a spade, and a club on each hand._

_Putting up his deck of cards but the Queen of Hearts, which he had conviently left on the counter, he reached behind her. She could feel the sleeve of his jacket brush against her neck as he brought back around a shit glass. He downed the contents of the tiny glass before sending her a cocky grin, "Be safe my petite."_

_He left the bar after giving her a gentle kiss on her cheek, a moment that was actually less than a second but to her it felt like years. It had been the first time in a year she had made contact with actual living flesh. The moment had been such a surprising experiement to her demeanor that it wasn't until three days later when she was 400 miles away from where he was, that she had realized he had stolen her necklace._

She wasn't sure what she was suppose to do as the guards left once the collars were removed. The crowd only yelled louder as the annoucer yelled out, "FIGHT!"

Atom charged her first, sending blast after blast her way; she managed to dodge them well enough until she was only a foot away from the wall of the arena. He came forward and grinned, "Time to go bye-bye girlie."

"Sorry big boy," she snarled at him, "not today."

Pulling her gloves off she reached up touching his skin against hers. She could feel the familiar pull pf his strength and mind molding into her body. She let him go just at the breaking point and he fell to the ground in a limp heap.

"What's this?" the annoucer boomed, "She laid Atom out with just a touch."

The crowd jeered while Marie glanced around the rink for an escape route. There was none. She made no attempt to hurt Shovk or Firecracker, only shivered as the crowd cheered.

"Sorry folks," the annoucer came on again, "but I have been informed to end these fights since the girl has more power than we had expected. Please exit the arena and no refunds will be granted."

The crowd booed excessively but left in a manner of fifteen minutes or so. Once all of the viewers had left the stands, a fat man came to the rink and said through the special glass, "Welcome to the M.F.A. children sinces all of the fights were canceled thansks to Rouge you all will be joining our ranks."

"What is this place?" she yelled at him, pointing her finger.

"All in time," she giggled, "but for now its time for you to sleep."

A thick, green gas filled the rink causing all those who had been awake to suddenly pass out.


	3. Chapter Three: Remy Gambit

**_Note: Well here we are, Chapter Three, though it feels like its taken a thousand years to get it posted. To be honest this year has been a little rough and thats why I haven't been writing or up-dating. I just haven't the time and when I do I don't really feel like writing. Anyways I hope ya'll like this chapter and I'm going to try and update all my stories sometime soon so just be patient. Thanks!_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men._**

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_ "Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."_

_Thich Nhat Hanh_

**Chapter Three**

**Gambit (aka Remy)**

He had been watching from the side lines like a hungry dog waiting to be thrown a bone. Things were getting more interesting by the second with this girl. He had pretty much already figured out that her mutant power was much more than just healing otherwise she would not have been able to lay him out with just one touch. But his fascination with this girl was more than just that, he wanted revenge.

He was more than sure she was the reason he had been locked away these two years as a prisoner after all it was her he had last seen as a free man. She had probably been the one to sell him to these crooks and even had gotten a nice penny out of it.

It made him bitter.

To know that there were people out there who could do something so vial and so evil as to sell human beings into slavery. After all his prison wasn't just a prison for mutants to be fought like dogs, but a prison to many. There were five levels that separated all the inhabits of the prison.

There was the first level, his level, dedicated to barbaric and forced fights of the mutants with active power. This is where the owners made most of their money and where most of the prisoners lost their lives on a daily basis. He could all but figure that there were heaps of unclaimed victims that were thrown into the ocean's waters and devoured by the sharks. And there was no escape. Around the necks, and even the wrists and ankles of the most powerful, were collars that suppressed the mutant gene. Those who tried to remove the constrains outside the arena would receive a nasty injection of rattle snake poison directly in their spine taking several slow moments to kill them. He had seen that first hand.

The next level was meant for all mutants with inactive powers. Since there was no entertainment in them fighting they were sold as slaves or were experimented on. The upper class and even European nobles thought of mutant servants like rare prize they took great joy in owning one. This was also a most profitable ring for the owners considering how the rich and famous would battle it out. When one person gained a new mutant slave others would then want more as well and would pay anything to get them. Those who did not sell would be sent to silent clinics all over the world to be "study" like lab rats.

The third level consisted of the children mutants. The children, a much smaller population than the rest, where rare diamonds in a sea of salt. Since mutations often didn't show up until after hitting puberty is was indeed a gifted moment when an underage child was found with a mutation. These children, much like their adult counter parts, were sold to the upper class but at a much higher price.

The fourth level was only meant for non mutant prisoners. These people usually included politicians and political leaders who refused to give into the owners demands. They also held people for ransom only most times the person in question was never actually returned home.

And the final level, the fifth level, was a harem of drug lords and prostitutes to make the villainous owners even more money than what they were making off the other levels.

He was drug out of his thoughts when he felt his restrains slacken, but became more annoyed as Pig walked up to him. Pointing a chubby finger at two other prisoners, Red and Leo, he ordered, "You two are on clean up. I want you to take the two males back to the cells. The Mexican will be roommate to Static and you Leo and the Russian will be the Cajun's new roomy."

Gambit blinked, so the girl wasn't going to room with him? Then what were they planning on doing with her? Experiments no doubt even the revenge in his head wasn't nearly that cruel.

The short fat man turned to him, "As for you swamp boy, take our little princess to the clinic on the owner's demands."

"What they do to her tere?" he couldn't help but ask. The question had more slipped out of his mouth before he had the chance to stop himself.

Startled for only a second the shorter one snapped, "Doesn't really matter now does it? Just take her to the doctor and get back to your cell before lights out. If you don't," he almost sang the last bit in pleasure, "You know what will happen."

Of course he knew how could he forget? Anyone not in their cell at the exact second of nine O'clock was instantly terminated by their collars. It was a way to keep all the prisons from rallying together late into the night. Crush the spirit and the body has no motion, or at least that was the theory.

Once his chains had been released from the bench he entered the arena with a heavy soul. He had fought many people in this place, this dismal haunted place, and had killed many innocents in order to survive. But now, just surviving was getting tiresome. There were many nights where he laid in his bed debating whether or not he would let his next opponent end it all. But the basic fundamental instinct to live still thrived in him and every time he chose his life over the opposite's. Before he had felt guilty but now he felt only a numbness.

Picking up Rogue's limp body he tossed her over his shoulder and headed for the clinic. If the setting had been different, if he hadn't been so angry and bitter toward her, he might have fallen in love with her at first sight. Her beauty itself was stunning to him, and if he had been a free man he would have made her a prisoner of his love. But those days were far from over.

And he hated her.

He laid her down on the same bed as he had been on just earlier and waited for the doctor to come out of hiding.

The doctor was an old man in his late seventies with a severe spinal hump. He, naturally, had a long body that if it had been straight would have reached six feet tall. Scratching his beard as he came out from behind a curtain he mumbled, "So this is the strange girl eh?"

Gambit gave no response as he left the clinic and the girl in the doctor's hands. He couldn't help but feel a little more of the younger, more caring side of what he use to be die a little. Once he had been a knight in shining armor rescuing girls left and right. Now he had let a young girl fall into the hands of a mad scientist and hadn't even raised one word of protest.

Not that it would help.

He slipped into his cell just as nine rang through the concrete walls, noticing that the Russian boy was asleep on a cot in his room. He heard the automatic door locks click as he swung himself up on the top bunk of his bed. Stretching his arm over his eyes, he silently questioned why the boy had not simply taken the bottom bunk.

Three knocks came upon his door about an hour later. He swung down automatically and responded with six more. The opening for where the food trays were slid in swung open and a pair of brown eyes peered at him.

"Gotcha a present son," the prison guard mumbled tossing a pack of full flavored cigarettes at him.

The guard's name was Hammond Joans, but most of the prisoners new him as Saint John. He, unlike the rest of the prison guards, didn't treat the prisoners as dogs but as human beings.

"I don know where they keep her Johnny," Gambit whispered to him eyeing the sleeping blonde behind him, "Last Gambit heard wuz tey hadn't had a buyer yet."

There was silence from the other side of the door for a minute before the response came, "Keep an eye out would you son? Your lady friend will be coming in a few days so maybe-"

Remy cut him off, "Gambit know what you hint at friend. No need to worry we find your daughter and ten you get us out of here."

No more needed to be said. The opening was quickly shut before any more of the conversation could continue and once again he was left in darkness.

Saint John had come to the prison as an undercover agent to get his eight year old daughter back. She had been kidnap due to her special mutation to form diamonds out of her tears. Hammond had promised Gambit that if he used his pull with the gossiping French duchess Madam Lafayette to locate and help rescue the little girl, in return the ex-cop would help him escape from the prison.

It was a tricky plan with many trap doors and possible death at the end but then he was facing death every day so what did he have to lose?

He laid back on his bed.

He had to plan.


	4. Chapter Four: Marie Rogue

_**Note:** Okay so here is a new chapter. I've been feeling inspired since last night so hopefully I'll have the chapters rolling off like water off a duck lol. Okay leave nice long reviews and if anyone has any ideas for later chapters please tell me. I would love to hear them because I have a basic idea for this story but someone else might come up with something better._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own X-Men._

* * *

_"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul."_

_- Judy Garland_

**_Chapter Four_**

**_Rogue (aka Anna Marie)_**

_A pair of ruby eyes were staring at her from across the room and she couldn't help but notice. She wanted to touch his cheek, to kiss his lips, and embrace him with all her might. She didn't know who he was, not really, but she knew in that moment that he was something to her. She could feel it in her soul. He was going to play a major roll in her life and whether or not that roll would be a good one or a bad one she wanted him. She desired him more than any other man in her life._

_But he was angry with her._

_She wasn't sure why he was mad with her but she knew he was. His anger was whispered in her mind by an unknown source. And s__he didn't know why but she wanted to fix whatever it caused him to be so mad. His anger, even in her dream, pained her greatly. She wanted to love him, to make him smile, and love her back. She desparatly needed him, like air._

_And yet she didn't even know who he was._

_He lifted a shot glass of vodka to his lips and downed the contents as he stared. Cards laid out before him at the bar counter in a game but he didn't seem to notice them._

_She walked towards him and reached out her hand._

_He took it, kissing her bare skin, "I wait her chere until you come to Remy."_

"_What are you waitin' for suguarh?" she inquired sitting next to him at the bar._

"_I wait for her," he pointed toward the door as a woman entered._

She opened her eyes to several hushed voices talking around her. For the first time she didn't have any confusion of who she was when she had awoken, something that plagued her every morning since she had first used her powers.

She knew automatically that her name was Anna Marie and that she came from Mississippi. There were no other voices in her mind, no other personalities trying to convince her to give up her body to their control. There were no memories that didn't belong to her, invasions of her victims minds and trapped into hers. This startled her more than brought her peace.

Where was she?

"She has an active power," came the voice of an old man, shaking as he spoke.

They were talking about her she was sure of it. Her vision was focused on her chest and to her horror she realized someone had taken her street clothes. Only a sheet hid her womanly wiles as she laid on a metal bed in the nude.

"Okay but what the hell is it?" came another.

Trying to move she realized very quickly that she couldn't. Restrains held her at her wrists and ankles and even her neck. She tried to swallow but her throat was sore causing a cough attack so severe she nearly started to dry heave.

The two men continue their conversation ignoring their prisoner's plight, "Well its hard to say. The readings indicate that she has several, maybe twenty or more different mutant powers locked in her mind. In theory she could have unlimited powers but…"

She tried to turn her head to see the men talking but to no avail. She only managed to get two dark shadows out of the corner of her eye.

"But what Doc?"

Doc?

So one of the men was a doctor and they knew she was a mutant. How the doctor knew about her multiple personalities disorder she could only guess. And once more she felt a sense of dread over take her, something about this place wasn't right.

She knew from her earlier experience that these people fought mutants as they had tried to fight her, and now there was a doctor involved. And on top of all these observations she was tied down, against her will. Suddenly she understood that she was in a much bigger mess than she had previously thought.

And the chances of the X-Men saving her was zero to none. After all she had left the team, claiming that she was gone for good, after the incident with Bobby. No one would be looking for her, why would they?

"Her mind is a mess. The collars suppress her powers and the many different brain patterns in her head while they're on but…"

You can't look for something if you don't know it's lost.

"I'm getting tired of your buts old man just come out and say it!"

You have to stumble upon it.

"The owners may not agree given the girl's natural beauty and rarity of her powers, but I recommend we depose of her at once. She is much to dangerous to have even in our rink. There really is no telling how she will react when the collars are removed. The rush of suppressed powers may over whelm her control and she could in theory destroy even the physics'' and their mind fields. Its too dangerous."

And there would be no stumbling here.

Rogue felt her body grow cold as she listened to their conversation. The older man wanted her dead?

But why?

She hadn't done anything to him to cause him to want her to die!

The other snarled back in a hideous tone, "Don't be ridiculous old man she can't possibly stomp out fields! There is no way in hell the owners would even consider getting rid of her. Knock that thought out of your head."

They moved over to where she was at noticing for the first time she was awake. The fatter of the two gave her a chilling smile and stated, "Welcome to our little piece of hell girlie. The rules are very simple, don't try to remove your collars outside the fight rink and don't try to escape. Do either of these and a nasty poison will be injected into your body."

"What'yad want with me?" she questioned him narrowing her emerald eyes.

"Not much only a little entertainment here and there," she shivered at his response, "Now then its nine o'clock in the morning, and you are just in time for the showers."

"Wait a cotton pickin' minute," she struggled against the chains but they didn't break.

Her strength, it was gone.

"Don't bother girlie the more you struggle the more tired you'll be for your fight tonight."

"I'm not fightin' anyone," she protested but she stopped struggling all the same, not wanting the sheet to slide off of her.

"Oh yes you will," he poked her in the nose, "Or you'll die."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as he left the room. The doctor made his way to her and begin releasing her restrains one at a time, "Don't bother to try a run missy," he warned her darkly, "Or we'll have to sedate you."

She nodded, wrapping the sheet firmly around her body as she sat up.

The doctor sat some clothes in her lap and stated firmly, put these on and go out that door. He pointed to the only doorway in the room with an actual door in it, "One of the other prisoners will be waiting to show you to the showers."

As he stooped his way to another doorway with a sheet hanging down it he added, "I'm not a man to look at a young lady when she dresses."

She wasn't sure how to respond to his statement, the only thing she could do was wait for him to make his leave and then slowly get dressed. She noticed that her wrist had a set of three numbers tattooed on it: 87 45 98.

When she had managed to get her clothes on she made her way to the door , leaving the small clinic without looking back. A man was leaning against the wall opposite of the door, he didn't even look up as she closed the door automatically behind her.

She waited for a moment examining him quietly. He was tall, sleek man with handsome features and a prisoner much like herself. His hair was onyx black with a messy cut that caused over grown locks of hair to dance over his blue eyes. When he looked up from the object that previously held her attention he smiled at her, "Hiya there lovely."

She didn't say anything.

Was he really greeting her as if they were both free and not prisoners?

He was definitely a strange one.

He walked forward, "My name is Sonic and I'm your official guide to our little slice of heaven."

"Rogue," she mumbled softly as they walked down the hall together.

"Well Ms. Rogue we are off to a nice cold co-ed public shower and then its off to a nice cold breakfast and after that back to our nice cold cells."

She halted her steps at the word "co-ed" and jerked around to face him, "Whadda mean co-ed showers?"

"I can see that your surprised," he only continued to smile at her, "This isn't the plaza my dear they don't care about privacy here. You'll get use to it trust me."

She didn't respond

They took up walking again until they reached a large door set off in the corner of the hallway. Upon entering it she realized they had finally made their way to the showers since all the prisoners were lined up with only towels wrapped around the most important parts. Guards stood at the doors snickering to each other.

Sonic lead her through the weave of people until they were off at the far end of the building were a red head and nervous Russian stood.


	5. Chapter Five: Remy Gambit

_**Note:**__ So I have been in the hospital for nearly a week and a half. I had my baby girl on the 28 of September! She was six weeks premature but she's doing great. The hospital had to keep her in for a couple of weeks because she was so early. And then, on top of that I got bit by a brown recluse spider and the poison nearly killed me. I had to stay in the hospital for nearly a week. But I'm back and I'm still kickin'._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own X-Men nor do I own the X-Men story line._

* * *

"_Broken windows and empty hallways, pale lit moon in a sky streak with grey- human kindness is over flowing and I think it's gonna rain today."_

_Bette Midler, __I think It's Gonna Rain Today_

**Chapter Five:**

**Gambit (aka Remy)**

Gambit stood next to Shovk with a nonchalant expression on his face. He never really worried about the showers and the problems that they brought on other people, other people being mostly the women. He held no embarrassment about his body and felt no need to squirm or wiggle in shame as most of the other prisoners did. Shovk how ever seemed to have had taken the opposite approach than himself. The young teenager looked around the room in undying humiliation. He tried, Gambit noticed, not to stare at the nearly naked women all around him but failed in misery. Remy respected his attempt of respecting the women's privacy even if he wasn't so successful in his attempt. Most of the men in the showers didn't bother to show the same resistance.

"What's shakin' Cajun?" he heard a friendly voice inquire behind him.

Gambit turned around to face the dark haired young man who was smirking at him. He noted silently to himself that his friend had failed to put on a towel but instead was showing all his glory off with no shame or even the slightest tint of pink on his cheeks. He replied, "Why you walk around like tat? No one wanna see what lil you don have."

The cocky smirk fell off the other's face, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'll have you-"

Stopping in mid sentence he stared over Remy's shoulder's gawking at something from a distance. He gained a little composure and continued to say, "Hey who's that with Bradley?"

Turning around the New Orleans's native cursed himself silently.

Was he going to be stalked by this insufferable girl?

Sonic, another one of his good friends, was walking towards them with a very small looking Rogue behind him. She was eyeing all the prisoners and their lack of attire with serious fear showing all over her face. Her eyes were flicking to the guards nervously as they watched her with interest. She wasn't wearing a towel but the normal prisoner's attire: a black shirt and loose gray pants.

Dice pushed past the two he had been talking to and met up with his twin brother a few inches from where Gambit stood. Cocking his head to the side he inquired with pure curiosity, "Who's your friend Brad?"

Sonic responded, "This is Rogue she's one of the new mutants. The Owners wanted me to bring her to Gambit so he could show her around."

Remy cursed again. Was there no escaping her? Every time he turned around there she was and now he was forced to show her around the prison? Like it was worth showing off? He was becoming more and more frustrated with how things were playing out. He wished the girl would just disappear and leave him the Hell alone.

"Oooooooooooh," the other pouted, "Lucky alligator bait."

"Gambit don find it lucky," he growled catching the girl's eyes with his.

Her eyebrows narrowed and she hissed back at him, clearly not appreciating his distained for her presence, "It's not like I wanna be here either honey so how about cut a girl a break."

She was sassy.

He had always liked that in a girl. He mentally shook his head at that thought and once again cursed. This girl was going to cause him to lose his sanity. He was sure of it. He was more than positive he would be pulling his hair out by the time he was rid of her. And he really liked his hair.

He couldn't respond for a commotion at the right of where they stood. One of the guards had knocked a female prisoner to the ground causing her to knock into two other prisoners. The blue skinned mutant they had assaulted glared up from the floor through strands of wet scarlet hair. Gambit noted from the corner of his eye that Rogue had moved forward her eyes glaring dangerously at the guards.

Gambit caught her by her elbow and pulled her back, "Don do tat chere, 'tay out of it."

Snatching her arm out of his grip she huffed, "Dontcha tell me to _'Tay out of it_! What that jerk is doin' isn't gonna fly by me, and besides I can't just look the other way…"

Her voice trailed off causing him to ask out of pure inquisitiveness, "What is it chere?"

She stormed off in the direction of the guard and mutant he knew to be named Mystique, throwing over her shoulder as she did so, "I can't let this one go sugar she's my mother."

He watched wide eyed as Rogue shoved the guard away from the fallen woman with one hand and with the other helped her mother. The showers had grown silent everyone's eyes on the scene that was playing out. Moving forward for a better look her watched as Rogue snapped at the guard, poking him in his massive chest, "What kinda gentleman are ya picking on a lady like that?"

The guard grabbed her by the shirt, practically lifting her off the ground, "And who the hell do you think you are little girl?"

Remy didn't notice that he had moved even closer to the scene. It was his subconscious working against him. It was in his nature to be protective over women, to treat them with the up most respect even if he hated them. One couldn't simply ignore one's own nature and he couldn't ignore his.

Rogue's hands clawed at the guard's forearms for help as she tugged against his firm grip. She managed to wiggle free far enough to kick him in the groin before landing on her feet. She kicked him one more time for measure before snapping at him, "Who are you calling little sugah?"

Two more guards rushed at her forcing her to lay on the ground with her arms firmly locked behind her. They ignored their suffering comrade only to bark at the other prisoners to get back to their showers. Moving forward with one last step Gambit was about to hit one of the guards from behind when Dice pulled him back by the shoulder and hissed, "Live today and fight tomorrow, remember?"

He nodded his head turning his back on the struggling girl as the guards forced her out of the showers and down the hallway. Her mother made no attempt to help her; she seemed to have been in shock. He decided that once the showers were over he was going to get some answers out of her. Surely her being the girl's mother she would have the answers he needed to know about her.

It wasn't until breakfast, thirty minutes later, that he found the woman he sought out sitting in the corner of the room. She hadn't even touch her tray when he approached and didn't seem surprised in the least when he sat across from her.

"I want te ask you sumethin'," he started. When she made no reply he pressed on, "The chere that helped you she say you her muther. Is dat true?"

She glared up at him with her honey eyes before snapping in her commanding voice, "So? What of it?"

"She helped you but you no help her, why is dat?"

"Do you have point with all these questions?" she snarled at him, "Or do you just want to irritate me by insulting my mothering skills?"

He held his hands up defensively, "Only wondering cher, no offense wuz meant."

She huffed but replied darkly, "Rogue and I don't have that kind of relationship as if it's any of your business."

"What kinda mutant iz she; Gambit never seen anything like her."

Mystique's eyes locked with his, sending chills down his back, "The kind that you don't want to make angry. Rogue is very special, unique."

"And why is dat?"

"Because you idiot she can take any power she wants by only touching you for a moment. She can gain access to all your memories, your skills basically she absorbs the entity that is known as you. Her power has no limit if she is given the proper guidance."

He said nothing for a minute listening to everything the other was saying but not comprehending any of it at the same time. He watched as the woman got up and added to her last statement, "Stay away from her Cajun, anyone who gets to close ends up in a coma or dead."

He watched as she walked away leaving the food untouched on her tray. He stared at it for a while before getting up himself. There was a feeling of uneasiness in his chest as he made for the door, something was missing from the equation. It was like Mystique had purposely left something out.

Like she was hiding something.


	6. Chapter Six: Marie Rogue

_**Note:**__ Okay so I just wanted to say that if you have never listen to this song (the quote) you have GOT to. I'm not a big country fan by any means, it's just not my scene, but this song is beautiful. It inspires me every time I listen to it. Now then I wanted to clarify a few things about this fan fiction in case there is some confusion:_

_1. This isn't a fan fiction just based off the movies- it's based off __X-Men: Evolution__, the movies, and even __X-Men: the Animated Series__. I'm taking parts and personalities from all of them and morphing them into the characters. That's why Rogue knows about Mystique because I took that from __X-Men: the Animated Series__._

_2. I know Belladonna isn't actually the way I described her in the story. I did that on purpose. I wanted to have an interracial relationship. I'm an open and free person and I wanted to express that in my story. It's important to me. This story may just be a fan fiction but I wanted to cover taboo topics in it. I plan to also cover: gay relationships, hatred, etc. I would go on but it will spoil plot lines for later on. I'm doing this because X-Men, in all the versions, it's a social statement about the human condition and I really like that. It has layers unlike recent cartoons and television shows._

_3. Mystique hiding something is foreshadowing. It may not seem like it because she gave Gambit a very brief outline about Rogue that seemed to cover everything, but she is. Trust me. And here's a hint, I never said she was hiding something about Rogue. I alluded to it, but I never came right and said it. I did that for a reason._

_So in conclusion to this little lecture, don't haggle the writer about details in the story that seem off. Because they may be foreshadowing or plot twists, and you just end up irritating the suthor. And THAT'S not nice. Trust me every detail in this story has a purpose._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't X=Men or the X=Men story line._

* * *

"_They didn't have you where I come from. Never knew the best was yet to come. Life began when I saw your face. And I hear your laugh like a serenade. How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough? Is forever enough? Is forever enough because I'm never ever giving you up."_

_Dixie Chicks, __Lullaby_

**Chapter Six:**

**Rogue (aka Anna Marie)**

"_What's the matter with you kid?"_

_Rogue looked up at her mentor with half glazed over eyes. She had been thinking about how things had gotten so bad as they had. Something was missing in her life: love. All she wanted was someone to hold her, look in her emerald eyes, tell her everything would be okay, and seal the promise with a meaningful kiss. The older she got the harder things became. She could see her relationship with Bobby was fading more and more with each look he gave Kitty Pride. And it hurt her._

"_Nothing Logan," she lied. Thinking of Logan as someone who would be equivalent to her father, she still couldn't sit down and explain everything she was feeling. That's what mothers were for. And the only person she thought of as her mother, well, she would never even consider talking to. Looking at her feet, she released a heavy sigh. When would things change? When would she be free of her mutation and feel the skin of another human being?_

_Never._

_He released a low growled, and trying his best to sound sincere he replied, "Its Ice Cube isn't it? Him and the cat are getting pretty close aren't they?"_

_She winced._

_Did everyone else notice as well? Was her misery the constant entertainment for the rest of them? Every time she gained a love interest all the others would do was constantly warn her about her mutation, especially Scott. And she understood why, they were worry about her safety and her emotional condition._

_But they were also worried about the potential lover._

_Worried that she would end up killing him, or in some cases her._

_But every relationship ended before she even had the chance to try and get physical. They all would eventually want to have someone they could kiss, could hold, could have sexual relations with. And she couldn't do any of those things. And like clockwork, they would leave her behind and fall for someone else. It was tiring._

_She made no reply causing them to fall in an awkward silence. He sat down next to her and finally said thoughtfully, "Look Rogue I know it's gotta be hard- considering everything, but eventually…" he trailed off, then finished, "There are plenty of other fish in the sea."_

_She jerked her head up and glared at him, "Really Logan? Really? That's the best you can do: other fish in the sea?"_

_He didn't say anything. She stood up and then added, "Thanks for the lecture sugah but I don't think so."_

"_Where are you going kid?" he watched her as she started to leave. She could see the concern all over his face._

_She turned to look at him, "I'm gonna go find Bobby, we have a date tonight."_

_He didn't say anything but let her walk away._

Rogue opened her eyes to see that she was still in solitary condiment. She wasn't sure how long she had been in there considering there were no windows in the tiny room, but she was sure that it had been a few weeks. Jerking her head towards the door as someone slung it open, Rogue tried to move further against the wall she sat up against to get as far away from the guard as possible.

Entering the room with a snide smirk the guard commanded her to get up. Shakily she did as she was told still sore from the last beating she had gotten. She knew it was punishment for her opposition in the showers but she couldn't help herself. She couldn't stand for anyone to take advantage of another human being, even if that human being was Mystique.

The guard grabbed her by her arm and shoved her out of the tiny room causing her to run into her foster mother. They both tumbled to the ground with a loud thud. The guard, leaving with no personal interest in the two women, gave one last order which was for the two to make their way to the showers or suffer the consequences.

Once he had left, Rogue suspiciously glared at Mystique as if she were planning to attack the younger girl at any moment, "Why did they send you to get me?"

Mystique gave her a look that seemed to be measuring her up before she said, "I volunteered."

"And why would you do that?"

Mystique, always walking one step ahead, led the way towards the shower. She never looked over her shoulder as she spoke, "I wanted to say thank you for helping me."

"I never expect you ta be the kind ta say thank you," Rogue retorted darkly.

"I'm not," Mystique suddenly turned around causing Rogue to jolt in her steps, "Tell me something, are the X-men going to coming to rescue anytime soon?"

Folding her arms over her chest Rogue snapped, "And why would ya care if they did or didn't?"

"Rogue," Mystique growled, "Stop acting like a child and answer the question."

"No," she turned her face toward the ground before looking up angrily, "I left them. They have no idea where I'm at."

Mystique seemed annoyed by her answer, turning sharply on her heels, she answered, "We could have used their help this time. Though I'm surprised you allowed yourself to be captured by these _humans_. I always thought of you more than that, but I guess I was mistake in your abilities."

Insulted by her statement Rogue yelled at her back, "Like your one to talk sugah, you're here to ya know!"

Mystique, once again turned around sharply to face her defiant daughter, "I did not get capture by accident not that it's any of your business. Eric will be here soon and we will destroy these bastards once and for all. And you are going to help us."

Rogue felt a sudden dread come over her, "What are you saying?"

"You will see."

They reached the door to the showers and entered them. Once again Rogue found herself in a sea of towels and skin. It was all such a new concept for her.

Shoving a towel in her hand Mystique snapped, "Put this around you."

Rogue shook her head, "You want me to take my clothes off right her? I don't think so honey."

"I thought I said stop acting childish. When have you ever taken a shower fully clothed? Or do you want to attract the attention of the guards?"

As she started to take her clothes off she asked, "How long was I in that room?"

"Two weeks."

Just as she pulled her shirt over head, trying to maneuver the towel around her breasts at the same time to cover as much of her as possible, she didn't see a very irritated Cajun walking through the door. Mystique had been so demanding that they hadn't even moved but a few inches from the entrance. Her towel fell down; she tried to grab it but missed. Her embarrassment grew as she realized that Mystique had vanished and she was standing there half naked by herself. She cursed her foster mother, covered her breasts with one arm while reaching down with the other.

The towel came into her view as well as a pair of legs and a hand. She looked up to see a pair of crimson eyes staring at her. They were harsh, filled with much hatred- more than her faded memory had recalled from their first meeting. She was sure the first time they had met he had held laughter and a promise of trouble.

"Here ya go chere. Don wanna lose tat."

"Well aren't you a sweet heart," she replied wrapping it firmly around her chest.

"Next time sumethin' like last time happens listen to Gambit and 'tay out of it. You'll live a lot longer."

She opened her mouth to speak but more prisoners had come through the door forcing the two to move toward the stone wall where the shower heads were attached on. She watched as the Cajun stripped down with no shame and wrapped the towel around his waist. She was finally able to snap at him shakily (She was shaken from seeing all the male anatomy the room was offering up since it was her first time seeing it and so much of it at the same time.), "Don't tell me ya just stand there and let those big fellows pick on these poor people and not say anythin'."

He replied darkly, taking his towel off and fully moving under the shower head, "If you wanna live chere, listen to Gambit he knows- keep your head down and your mouth shut."

She pulled her pants down from under towel but did not move to take it off. She tried her best to be subtle her found her eyes roaming over his body. Although she and this young man had some serious tension she couldn't help but to admire him. The muscle of his back down to his calfs, everything about him was fit and well tone. All she could do was think back to one of the professor's lectures about Michelangelo and his statue of David.

As he started to rub the bar of soap into his hair another prisoner, annoyed by her slowness, shoved her under the cold water getting her and her towel soaked. She gasped as the water hit her and the memory of swimming in the Atlantic Ocean hit her. The memory, like so many others, was not her own but someone else's. It faded quickly, being that her powers were mostly suppressed by the collars on her body and she came back to reality.

She looked up and noticed he was watching her, she snapped, "Don't ya know it's rude to stare at a lady when she's in the shower?"

"You watched Gambit so Gambit figured he could watch you."

He had called her out.

Now she was really embarrassed.

"No worries chere," he stepped out of the shower, drying his hair, "Gambit let you use his towel."

She eyed his suspiciously as her wet towel, being so heavy from the water, slide off her body. Turing to face the wall so that most of her body was hidden she looked over her shoulder and asked, "Why are ya helpin' me sugah? I thought you hated me."

He flashed her a charming smile, "Gambit does hate you cher but he respect a woman who'll fight even if she can't win. So Gambit figure he help you out this time but later you own you own."


	7. Chapter Seven: Remy Gambit

_**Note: **__Alrighty so here is the next chapter. I hope ya'll review, review, review! And also if you like me as an author and are interested in my other projects you need to keep an eye out for my Rogue and Gambit one-shot: __Passion Flowers & Cajun Spices.__ I believe it will be very promising with plenty of romance. I have also decided that for my quotes I'm going to start using songs._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-Men or the X-Men story line._

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"_You ask about my conscience and I offer my soul. You ask if I'll grow to be a wise man well I ask if I'll grow old…I'm going down in a blaze of glory…I never drew first but I drew first blood this time and I'm going down."_

_Jon Bon Jovi, __Blaze of Glory_

**Chapter Seven**

**Gambit (aka Remy)**

There really was no escaping her.

Gambit sat on top of his bed glaring darkly at the ceiling. He could hear her light breathing underneath his bunk and it only caused him more announce. Why had they placed her in his room? There had to be other open cells in the prison that she could stay in. He shook his head in the darkness; he knew why she had been place in his cell: Shovk was no longer among the living. The poor boy had no real control over his powers and was vanquished in his second fight earlier in the week. But really? Wasn't there an open cell somewhere else? Surely there was.

Yes he had helped her in the showers but really that was the only attempt he had planned on taking any notice of her. He knew that if he stayed near her for too long he would end up hurting her. Still convinced that she had been the one to sell him to these pirates, he wanted nothing to do with her and her southern accent.

He missed the south, he missed New Orleans, and more than just that he missed his fiancé. His mind trailed off. She would probably be in the kitchen right about now making a nice big pot of red beans and rice with the little bits of spicy sausage mixed in with it. He would be sitting on the couch watching some movie, maybe Young Guns or maybe Belle had convinced him to watch For the Boys again, and drinking a beer…

The door to their room suddenly opened allowing a dim light to stream in. He froze. It was nowhere near time for the showers or for breakfast, it was nearly four in the morning. He closed his eyes just as a guard entered their room to lock some of the light. Waiting a few minutes before he opened one eye, he knew exactly who the intruder was. The guard's true name was Michael Landi but he was nicknamed Mikey Hands by the prisoners for his unwanted attention towards the female prisoners.

The up-to-no-good guard grabbed the sleeping girl startling her as he did so; she let out a scream as she punched him in his gut. Her attack didn't seem to phase the guard as he drug her out of her bed by her hair.

When was this girl going to stop getting in trouble?

He would help her out this time but that was it.

Really.

He couldn't keep helping out someone he considered his enemy.

A string of French curses and Gambit was off his bed. Jumping on the guard's back, he forced Mikey Hands to the ground and began to kick the fallen man while he was down. Rogue, seeming to be more awake than a few minutes ago jumped to her feet. She seemed fearful, running at Gambit she jerked him back with usual strength. She tried to reason with him, "Calm down sugah, you're gonna kill the dirty fella."

He was still enraged. He had barely heard her when she had spoken. Finally after a few short breaths and a -long moment to think he replied, "Gambit no help you no more. You too much trouble chere."

"I never asked for your help!" she protested.

He glared at her, "You don take care of yourself cher. You let tis guard sneak up on you."

She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded at the guard, "I wuz sleepin'. How wuz I suppose ta know this big boy would sneak into here?"

"Tis isn't the Hilton belle. These boys don care about you only what dey get from you. Gambit don like you much but he don like ta idea of a man takin' advantage of no woman."

"Well Gambit," she kicked the guard in his stomach causing him to moan, "I don't think I like ya very much either. I haven't done not a thing to ya and your meaner to me than a snake. If you don't want to help me then don't, but stop tellin' me you don't like me sugah. It's startin' to irritate me."

Saint John came running just as the two's argument began to get heated. Neither one of them notice him as Gambit snapped back at her, "You don want Gambit's help, fine den chere. Tats no problem for him. Save him the trouble of you anyways."

Now it was Rogue's turn. She poked him in his chest and snapped, "Why you southern boys always insist on playin' the hero. Can't ya'll give it a rest?"

John interrupted their argument and snapped at Remy, "What did you do you idiot? You know the penalty for failing to listen to a guard let alone attacking one!"

Gambit shrugged. He knew that he would be taken out and beaten in the morning but what had been done was done and he wasn't about to worry about it now. He only wished his beating was at least for a woman who appreciated him and his help. He watched as Johnny picked the other guard off the ground and mumbled in Remy's direction, "I'll see how I can help. Maybe if I tell the Owners that he was drinking and he picked a fight with you they won't punish you."

Shrugging again Gambit answered back, "Don worry about it. Gambit can take a beating or two. Dey not gonna kill, only injure."

Johnny gave him a sympatric look, "I'll see if I can help you son."

With that he dragged the limp guard out of the room and locked the door behind him. Gambit turned to stare at the girl. She was glaring at him darkly. To continue to argue with her would be pointless, so instead he swung up on top of his bed and laid down. He could hear an angry sigh as she laid under him on her own bed. He felt a foot kick the back of his mattress and a very forced, "Thank you."

He made no reply. Had she really just kicked him after he had stopped the guard from trying to rape her? Yeah, he was sure she had. The _thank you_ had been lost as he swung back down from his bed and demanded of her, "What is wrong wit you chere? You don know how to be polite and accept help? Why you go and kick me?"

Now she was out of her bed, glaring up at the two inch difference from their faces, "You can't help somebody and then insult them like that honey. How 'bout take a lesson on manners? No gal likes an ungentlemanly man."

"Oh is tat so?" he snapped back. Leaning down so that their faces were closer he went on to say, "And who will teach Gambit some manners? You cher?"

"Maybe," she hissed at him jamming her finger in his chest, "A good butt whoopin' every now and again isn't a bad thing."

He didn't show it on the outside but on his inside he was wincing. Even though the collars suppressed most of her powers she still had the strength of a grown man's punch in her one finger. Impressed as he was he grabbed her hand stretching out her arm behind him causing what little room they had apart to close. Now he was beyond mad. How many times would this girl assault him before he really lost his mind?

"How 'bout we leave Gambit's butt outta tis? Whadya say chere?"

He had her now. Maybe now she would shut up and leave him alone. He felt her jerk her hand away from him and mumbled, "Not like you have much of a butt anyways sugah."

And with that comment she slid onto her bed and was silent. He had lost. She had gotten the last word in and now he was left gawking in the darkness.-


	8. Chapter Eight: Marie Rogue

_**Note: **__So I was thinking about this story and I started laughing. Here's why: I realized how much in common my boyfriend and my version of Gambit are- and I started writing this before I ever even met him. Okay so here are my comparisons:_

_The Hair: I wrote Gambit with long hair and a under shave. See I've always thought that was pretty sexy. Well my boyfriend sports the same hair style but his hair is black._

_The Accent: Both of them have an accent but the difference is Gambit's is Cajun and Manuel's is Hispanic._

_The Religion: They are both Catholic. _

_I just thought that was weird because I started writing this when I was with my ex-boyfriend who looks nothing like either of them and then I met Manuel about a year ago. I was reading my first chapter and I started laughing because they are so much alike. Maybe that makes me a dork. I dunno. But I do know my baby is sexy. So here is his sexy shout out: I love ya baby even though I know you can't read English very well and your never actually gonna read this._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-men or the X-Men storyline._

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Chapter Eight:

**Rogue (aka Anna Marie)**

She was glaring at him from across the breakfast hall. They hadn't spoken since last night, and that was just fine with her. Wasn't it? So what if he was purposely avoiding her? So what that he had cut in line at the showers just so he didn't have to his at the same time she took hers. She didn't care, did she?

Nope, sure didn't.

Never mind the fact that he purposely took her chair not even minutes before. And she knew without a doubt in her mind that he knew that it was her chair. The twins had even informed him of his rudeness as she stormed off, but of course not until after she had knocked the chair out from under him. He was trying to make her feel like an outcast even in the hell hole they were in. He hadn't succeeded though he had tried very hard to do so; she had already felt that way long before she was a prisoner for these human traffickers and their sick games.

In fact the concept of being a prisoner was not even new to her. Her body made sure of that but not here with the collars.

No.

She wasn't a prisoner of her own flesh any longer. She hated the circumstances that was forced upon her by the Owners however they did present an opportunity she had never had before. She could touch and be touched. And yes, unwanted touching was a part of it, but it made her think on more grandeur scales. These collars had to be step closer to the cure. They didn't completely suppress her mutation but maybe with someone like Jean Grey or the Professor, they could do further research and…

And maybe a cure could be reached.

That was, of course, only possible if she could escape from this place. She sighed heavily, and if she was willing to go back to the school the Professor had created. And to her neither of which were anywhere close to happening. No she would be stuck here fighting for her life, the rights to her own body, and enduring very rude, ungentlemanly like behavior from a certain Cajun who hated her guts for no reason at all.

Lost in her thoughts, she realized that Gambit was staring back at her. He had noticed her attention was on him, that much was evident. He was glaring darkly, like he wanted to say something to her but never even bothered to leave his seat. Her eyes then shifted to a pair of guards making their way to his table. She froze, what had the guard said last night about prisoners being beat for defiance?

She understood his words more clearly now.

After all they had beaten her, thrown her into that small cell, and starved her among other things. She had already made the assumption that it was an attempt to break her much like his attempt to make her feel like an outcast. But both parties had failed in their attempts and she was proud to say that she was not as fragile as southern bells were made out to be. She was made out of much tougher stuff than that. Or at least at the moment she was. But sooner or later she was sure that that toughness she felt swirling around in her veins would ware off and she would become this broken thing that the other prisoners were.

The guards surround Gambit and openly announced in the mostly silent room, "Report to the yard now. Breakfast is over. You can thank the hero right here for that."

Breakfast, as they called it, had only just begun. They had only given the gladiators five minutes to receive their small ration of gruel before making their announcement. Rogue guessed that it was a cruel punishment forced upon the community in order to prove a point: don't rebel. She also guessed, as she and the other prisoners filed out of the room in mute silence with the guards pushing a non-struggling Gambit, that he would be the example for anyone who attacked a guard.

She narrowed her eyes; she knew she would end back in solitary confinement again if she were to be right. If she wasn't going to let her lying mother be beaten then she sure as hell wasn't going to let the man who had tried to help her maintain her innocence, be beaten even if he was a jackass.

The crowd led her to a large exercising field that clearly was only used for one purpose- cruel punishments and not the excise it was meant for. The guards tied his hands behind his back and forced him down on his knees. The sky was grey with foreboding winds blowing east- all was silent, all watched in weariness of their predicament.

And then it began.

The guard on the left struck him across the face with his heel sending the captive forward. No one moved to her but Rogue could feel it. It was like the wind was whispering to her: go. She took a step forward pushing, to her, an unnamed mutant to the side. She paused glancing up at the sky and again she felt it. It was like the wind was whispering more than just movement on her part. Like it was something unsaid, in between the lines but she could not decipher what it was. She took another step pushing more people out of her way until she was finally at the front lines. He was pretty beat up by the time she had gotten there with cuts and bruises littering his body.

Their eyes met and she nodded her head. In response to her pending attack her shook his head and whispered, "No belle, 'tay back."

One of the guards, heating his words, asked as he kicked him across the chin, "What as that you punk? Speak up?"

The last straw had fallen and she was on the attack. She flew at one of the guard knocking him on his rear end. The other came at her and she hit him in the chest before helping Gambit to his feet. Rogue stared into his eyes feeling something with in her chest respond to the scarlet orbs watching her carefully. She felt an urge, an urge she had never known swirl in her chest, for him to embrace her.

But he didn't.

Pulling away from her arms, he hissed at her, "Don expect a thanks chere. You gotten in a lot of trouble now."

She narrowed her eyes, placed her hands on her hips, and snapped, "Well sugah trouble seems to fallah me everywhere."

He cracked a small smirk, "Gambit see tat."

By now the other guards had made it to the yard. One of them hit her in the back causing her to fall forward, hitting her head on a small rock. She could see him clearly at first, submitting quietly after kicking one of the guards Rogue herself had attacked. Then the faces began to fade out into shadows before finally everything went black.

_She was looking for Bobby when she heard someone say her name. She froze and listened carefully._

"_You should just forget about Rogue."_

_Yes, someone was definitely talking about her and it was a female's voice coming from Bobby's dorm room. She stepped forward peeking in the cracked door for a better view. Bobby and Kitty were talking inside. Her heart was pounding now- were they sitting on his bed? Was that considered cheating if he had another girl on his bed? She frowned deciding if it wasn't cheating then it was damn sure close to it._

_Bobby looked at his hands, "I don't know."_

_Kitty leaned into his body, flipping her light brown hair over her shoulder as she did so, "You can't have sex with her," she giggled and added, "You can't even kiss her. I mean no offense but like she's never going to be a real woman not like me, not like Jean or Storm. She's never going to have human contact and she's never going to understand a man's needs. At least, not like me."_

_Taking a step back from the door as if she had been punched in the gut she waited for his response. He wrapped his arm around Kitty's small frame and replied hesitantly, "Well that's true. I mean everybody wants to be able to touch their girlfriend or boyfriend. I'm sure Rogue would understand my feelings."_

_She had to walk away at that. Listening to the rest was more heart breaking than watching someone she loved being hurt. At this point, she should have been use to the idea of her lovers shoving her to side for sex. That's what it all bulled down to. _

_SEX._

_Did they think she didn't want it? That she was satisfied with being a virgin with hormone rages that she could never fulfill. She longed to be touched, to be kiss, and to be loved. She was tired of being shoved aside or put up on a shelf. She was tired of being the sacrifice_

"Hey belle you okay?"

Rogue opened her eyes to find that she was in solitary confinement or what she thought to be it. When her eyes focused she realized that Gambit was sitting across from her more beat up than before. She blinked, managing to ask through cracked lips, "Wh…What happened to ya sugah? You look like you've been ran over by ah plow."

"Only bruises chere," he added after some thought, "Why? You wanna kiss Gambit's injuries and make tem better?"

She laughed in the darkness, "Yeah sugah and you be put into a coma after."

"Gambit don know what to tink about te likes of you. He finds you much confusin'."

She couldn't respond for the door slung open allowing a stream of light to separate the two. A guard jerked her up by her shirt without a word. Her head swirled from the injury she had endured on her temple from hitting the rock. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gambit's shadow stand up, only to be knocked back down by another guard who had entered the room carrying chains. He began to snap them around Rogue's wrists and ankles as he inform her with a smile, "The Owners feel that since you'll full of fight that you will be the entertainment for tonight. They want to test your powers out in front of the Dutchess and the Duke."

The other guard added darkly to Gambit, "Get up Cajun the Lady requests you to be in her box tonight considering her _favor _for you. We gotta get you cleaned up."

They shoved the prisoners out of the door roughly. Rogue threw Gambit a questioning look about the guard's comment but he had not looked at her. She was being to understand that this place was well known through higher society and her heart fell. Gulping as the guards half dragged and half shoved her down the hallway that it was a place of hopelessness, a vacuum of any dreams of escape and returning, or in her case, not returning to any former life.

_._


	9. Chapter Nine: Remy Gambit

_**Note: **__Okay sorry I haven't written anything in a while because once again bad luck has struck my family. My sister and I got into a serious car wreck not to long ago and now she is bed ridden for three months. Once those three months are up she'll be in a wheel chair for three more. So now I'm left working, taking care of the cleaning and the cooking as well as taking care of my niece and my own daughter with only my boy friend's/ fiancé's car to take us all where we need to go. It is more than exhausting but on the brighter side of life I'm writing an original novel so I look forward to finishing. I'll try not to neglect this fan fiction in particular as much but the universe, I am now convinced, hates me._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-men._

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"_And I don't want the world to see me cause I don't think they would understand. When everything is made to be broken I just want you to know who I am."_

_- Goo-Goo Dolls, __Iris_

**Chapter Nine:**

**Gambit (aka Remy)**

Voices all echoed in the hallways that never more than now represented death, disease, and paranoia. Every step he took away from her, all forced of course, felt as if there would never be relief from this dismal place. His head was screaming question, his own voice ringing through is ears and stitching it's way into his heart. She had made her sad attempt in rescuing him and he could not honestly say whether or not he was grateful. How could he be? The beatings only helped fuel his anger, his contempt for everyone who had ever wronged him. They made him brave enough to hate them all. They made him want every person he had ever hated to die. He was brave through the pain only enough to absorb the hate after wards.

But no.

Oh no not this time.

Of course when she had intervene he was not allowed the peace of mind that his hatred fulfilled him with. Of course not. She had changed everything. He had thought that he had known himself before now but he felt lost.

He felt new.

The newness had settled in the pit of his heart warming away the snow within its depths and creating a new found confusion.

Who was he now?

And was the bravery he had felt earlier something else?

Cowardliness?

It was night again before he saw her. He had been pacing their cell's floor with extreme displeasure. He had seen the Duchess in all her grandeur beauty. She was a woman of twenty-six with long blond hair flowing over her shoulders in a waterfall of sunlight strands. Her pale blue eyes twinkled in pleasure as he was forced to enter her room by one of her body guards. She sat patiently in front of a vanity mirror trimmed in gold brushing through her long hair.

His frustrations enhanced as he slammed his fist into the stone cellar wall in front of his. They cracked under the pressure but he didn't seem to mind. His focus was on his recent memory and not of his most recent pain.

_She turned toward him waving off her guard with a flick of her wrist. Silence passed between them as she stood up. Her night robe, a long this lacey veil of white flowed around her mostly nude body. She clearly only had one intent for him tonight. And he would have been more than willing to indulge her in his pleasures but his mind had been else where. He scanned her lingerie of light pink from her rather large heels up to the nipples clearly seen through the lace on her small dress. His eyes wander up to her neck line and then to her face._

_But it was not her face that he saw._

Rogue entered the room her eyes wide at the sight of him he was sure. He was more than just a mess. His clothes hung loosely around his frame from putting them on to quickly. Although there was no more blood on him his body had already started to swell from his beating. He watched her for a minute his mind running in circles around how beautiful she was to him.

If he believed the lore that the voodoo queen Mademoiselle Papillon spouted in the swamps about past lives and past lovers he would now swear on his current life that he had already met her in a past life. His eyes burrowed into hers as he allowed the memory of the Duchess to consumed him once again.

_She strolled up to him her body swaying seductively as she made her way toward him. She was smiling at him through painted red lips. _

_But those crimson rose petals were not the ones he saw._

Moving up to her with frustrated anger he grabbed Rogue by the shoulders and snapped, "You are driving Gambit crazy chere!"

She blinked winching as she did so. The fight had caused her eye to be blackened and it was now starting to swell. He had seen her take the punch and knew very well that her eye should have been swollen already. But no, this strange girl and all her strange powers that refused to be suppressed by the restraints of Hell.

Just like her spirit.

_Pressing her body against his she held onto his neck and murmured softly, "You're all beat up my darling what happened?"_

_He could feel the distance between them that had never been there before. Not even pure male hormones could suppress his urge to leave this woman and find another. He glanced down at her noticing her breast where very barely instead her little dress. He could feel the heat of her body and his own collecting down instead the pit of his male urges but an erection was not possible at that point. Not that he wanted one._

_He needed to get out of there._

"Gambit what in tar nation are you rambling on 'bout now?" her eyes were now cast to the left under carefully hooded eye lids but her voice remained soft.

Pulling her closer to his body he tilted his head down just low enough that his lips were not touching hers but for a light tickle as he spoke, "You-"

She cut him off, "Me what?"

When was this woman going to let him get the last word in?

"_Not tonight chere," he lifted her chin up trying his best to hide his lack of need for the woman._

_Her lip pouted but she nodded, "The fights will begin soon and my husband has taken quite a liking to the fighters tonight."_

_Jealously he never knew he had fired his next question, "And why tis that?"_

_She gave him a sly smile, looking up at him behind thick eye lashes, "Apparently the female fighter has caught his eye. I would not be surprised if he took her as his own."_

There was silence between the two of them for a moment. His fingers dug into bare skin that made up her arms but whether or not it caused her pain, she gave nothing away. Staring into her eyes with more fierceness than he realized he snapped, "Are you stupid?"

Knowing very well what fueled his question she snapped back at him all the while trying to slap away his hands but not succeeding, "I couldn't okay? Now let go Cajun!"

_He waited for the noble woman to pull on her clothes behind a tall screen that was meant to keep her modesty in tack. The screen through all its efforts would never protect that woman's modesty no matter how many layers of silk they added to it. Though he was physically attracted to the unnaturally beautiful lady he could not help but feel distaste for her. As beautiful as she was he knew what her heart was really like, a black pit with a dried up core inside._

_She stalked out from behind the screen wearing a long slender red dress that mapped out every single curve her body maintained leaving very little to the imagination between the sloping _

_V-line at her breast and the rather large silt that ran up her thigh. She placed an artic fox fur cloak over her shoulders and smiled as she held her hand out for him to kiss, "Shall we go then?"_

But he didn't let go like she demanded instead he held on tighter and started to fume, "Don you listen?"

He tapped her temple quickly with on hand still firmly on her arm and continued on, "Kill or be killed t'ose are the rules here belle! Why you insist on makin' your own up?"

"You don't you?" she yelled at him causing him to be taken back.

_He stood next to the lady inside her own personal box with only her husband inside. They both seemed over whelm with excitement as the fights began. He took personal relief for the first hour noticing that Rogue had not been called out. But soon she was making her way into the arena as if an angel dragged down into a ring fire of hell by demon claws. He watched impatiently as her opponents were brought out one by one._

_There were three total: a young man with blond hair and a slender figure, a young woman with short brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, and a short rough looking man with an apparent attitude. His attentions averted from them to Rogue._

_She seemed confused for a moment before taking a few excited steps forward. _

"Because Gambit know how to survive unlike you!"

"And is that all Gambit?" she whispered before screaming at him with feverish anger, "Is it really enough to just survive? I wont sacrifice who I am so I can live the rest of my life lost like YOU! I would rather die!"

Her words stung him sharply.

He knew she was right.

Seeing her now and every thing she had made plain that she stood up for made him warm. She would never sacrifice her soul just to survive as he had done. She would be their martyr and the demons would make sure of that. They would rape her mind and body over and over again until she was either dead or was completely broken as so many were here.

_He watched in silent horror as she threw her arms around the scruffy man's neck in an embrace that was accepted and matched awkwardly. The other two gathered around them, the boy seeming displeasured by her appearance but not more than his female counter part. Pig screaming over the intercom for them to fight remained unheard over the crowds excessive booing over yet again a refusal to fight._

"_Well now is she not an odd one?" the Duke inquired leaning forward with interest, "And here I thought mutants were soulless creatures who devoured an opportunity for blood lust. How strange."_

"_You seem quite vexed by this creature," his wife replied, Gambit didn't miss how her eyes remained glued to his obviously tense figure, "And you do not seem like the only one."_

"_Indeed," the duke had not heard the second part of her statement as he scooted closer to the glass._

Gambit dropped his hands to his sides and stared for a moment at the battered girl in front of him. She was a siren he had no doubt, pulling him further and further out to sea to drown him. She in all her beauty would be the death of him over and over again.

And he didn't seem to mind that any more.

_Calling to his body guard through the intercom to his right the duke stated, "Bring me Pig please I have a few inquiries for him."_

_The guard gave a curt yes sir and not long afterwards Pig came into the room ringing his hands nervously. He waited as the duke glanced at the arena and then asked of him, "Dear sir who is that vexing creature that refuses to fight? Is she quite new?"_

_Pig nodded, "Yes she's one of our newest besides the three others in the arena."_

"_And of her history?"_

"_None is known to use really. We know her skin doesn't allow her to be close to other people or she'll kill them."_

"_And why is that?"_

_Pig gave a shrug and then quickly corrected himself, "The doctor determined that her skin absorbs other people's energies up until now he guesses that she has never had physical contact. The collars in sure that she can't use her powers to their fullest."_

_The duchess now taken interest in the conversation asked, "What do you mean their fullest? I thought these collars we invested in were fool proof."_

_Pig became even more nervous now, "Well she seems to be the expectation to the rule."_

"_How unique," the duke replied rubbing his beard softly, "No human contact for most of her life up until she is imprisoned here. Very ironic indeed."_

"What?" she snapped at him darkly eyeing him carefully with suspicion

_Gambit, being a man himself, knew exactly what the duke was implying and it angered him. The man was now considering quietly to himself about conquering virgin territory he was sure of it. He turned his attentions back to the fight where he caught on of the guards hitting Rogue in her eye with unnecessary force. This caused the new arrivals to riot but not for every long soon the fighting rink was filled with gas and they were all knocked out. _

"_Tomorrow night then, after the fights," the duke said more to himself than any one else. He then turned to Pig and stated, "I would like you to escort the girl up here during the fights. Afterwards I shall handle to rest. But allow me to for warn you that your guards are not to harm her."_

_The duke dismissed the chubby man with a wave of his hand and then turned to his wife, "Befriend the girl tomorrow and then after the fights bring her to my quarters."_

Gambit pulled her against him in a tight embrace. He knew now that she represented all the good and innocent things in life and he also knew there was a coo against her. Every fiber of his being desired to protect her but he didn't even know where to begin. How could one single person fight an army with his bare fist?

Lifting her chin up he pressed his lips against hers. He knew that no matter what he had to protect her. He had to keep her safe and he would stake his life on all this knowledge.

Everything he was vanished and everything he could be materialized in front of him. He didn't know how he was going to fight Hell's army with only he hands but he knew he had to try.

For this.

For her.

And for what was left of his soul.


	10. Chapter Ten: Marie Rogue

_**Note:** So I totally feel inspired to write again. I'm hoping to hit chapter fifteen by the end of the week. I hope ya'll like this chapter and for those of you who have been waiting for Rogue and Gambit to hook up- you have to wait a little longer. But no worries not to long just a few more chapters. Okay leave me some nice long reviews._

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own X-men._

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_"Sound the bugle now - play it just for me a__s the seasons change - remember how I used to be. __Now I can't go on - I can't even start __I've got nothing left - just an empty heart. __I'm a soldier - wounded so I must give up the fight t__here's nothing more for me - lead me away... _  
_Or leave me lying here."_

_-Adam Bryan, Sound the Bugle _

**Chapter Ten**

**Rogue (aka Anna Marie)**

Her world was being torn apart little by little with the hands of fate weaving a tapestry of sticky spider webs. There was nothing more entrancing than the feel of his lips on her own but there was another feeling forming. She was loosing her grip on reality with one single touch, a touch she now knew she longed for since the first day she had seen him. Voices in her mind, the ones that secretly demanded that she hide herself from the world were now all silenced. Peace enveloped her body whispering for her leave behind all the pain and embrace a new future. A future that held him at the center.

Was it possible for only one man to make such a difference in her life, body, and soul? Was it possible that love could be so impressible as changing everything in one moment? Was it possible that all her dreams of connection and understanding could come true through only one single person? Was it possible that a stranger that she had never ever really spoken to besides scolding could make her knees shake and her very heart pound as if it were a drum?

Yes it was possible.

And it was happening now.

Her mind was in such a chaotic state that it was if Pandora's box had been open up inside of her letting everything bad out. But through all those bad things: lost lovers, lost families, pain, jealously- they had all over whelmed her up until now.

Now things were different.

He was the tiny yellow bird at the bottom of the box.

In her mind she watched as the little bird that was him spread its feathers in a wing span that matched that of an eagle. And as he lifted off, he carried her carefully in his talons away from the chaos into the sky of endless freedom.

He pulled away from her seeming shocked as if he was not sure of her reaction. She was not sure how to express to him how much she really cared for him; she was only sure of one thing. Pulling him against her she kissed him again but this time she was in the lead. Submission had never been one of her strongest points it was more like a weakness.

He pulled away from her after a few short minutes breathless, "Whad'ya doin belle?"

She frowned at that question, "Whad'ya mean: whad'ya doin? Isn't it obvious?"

He shook his head and then with a deep sigh, "Don tink dis changes anyting between us."

Standing stock still she gaped at him for a moment trying to find some short of counter for him shutting her down. She had already assumed that things had changed between them at the moment he had kissed her. What kind of game was he playing? She stomped her foot as tears started to swell in her eyes, feeling embarrassed at her unthinking she bolted for her bunk, pushing him out of the way.

Jackass that's what he was.

She had her back to him as she tried her best to hide her tears and the choking nose they caused her to make. She heard him take heavy steps to the bunks they shared as much as she heard him kneel down beside her bed and take a final frustrated sigh. Feeling his hand touching her own she snatched away from him and tried to burrow her way against the cold stone wall.

Everything was cold here.

"Don be like tat chere," his voice sounded sincere but she wasn't buying his modest act any longer. Losing what patience he was trying to maintain her jerked her shoulder to face him. His face instantly softened as his met her tear stain ones. Trying his best to be patient he stated, "If tey knew tey use it against us."

Wiping at her face with a dirty sleeve she croaked out, "Whad'ya mean?"

Pushing her up in a sitting position he sat down beside her and tried to explain, "Tis place- tey try to tear us apart chere make Gambit fight you. He don want tat. He don want to hurt you Rogue."

Understanding his meaning she leaned her head on his shoulder in silence. He was right. These people would find it humorous to make two lovers fight to the death all in the name of entertainment. This made her heart fall heavily to her feet. They would not be allowed to be with each other here were they could actually touch and they would never actually be together outside the walls of the prison because of her mutation.

Wrapping her up in his arms Gambit said nothing else.

She could only guess that she had fallen asleep because when she woke up she was still laying wrapped in her arms. They had slept on the same bed all night long. The bell for the showers rang causing him to jump up. Gambit, Rogue watched bemused, slammed his head into the bottom of his own bed knocking him back down. She listened with her eyes closed a string of French curses belted out of him. For a moment she allowed her mind to drift off into a day dream.

They were somewhere else. Somewhere where the dawn's early morning light beamed through a window covered in lace. Somewhere where prisons did not exist and mutations were in the mind of a writer looking to make a penny. Somewhere where she could hear the laughter of children tickling the silent morning.

Somewhere that wasn't here.

"Get up belle," he whispered in her ear and then followed his own advice.

Before she knew it they were standing in the lines for the showers, Though he wasn't standing right next to her she knew that Gambit was not too far off. She had a feeling he would be watching her from a distance more often now. She knew he wouldn't allow the Owners to exploit them for entertainment purposes just as much as she knew he was watching over her.

She wasn't startled as her former X-men team members made their way to her. They seemed more weary in their faces than the night before and that didn't surprise her either. Logan, looking more like a wild animal than the other two, glared at the lines with disgust, They all held the same pending question but none of them seemed willing to ask for the fear of the answer. And so they all stood there in complete disastrous silence.

Shoving some of the prisoners aside Rogue watched in horror as they made their way to Gambit. He seemed to have noticed them as well but stood his ground next to the twins. One of the guards shoved him in the shoulder yelling at him but she could not hear the conversation. The noise in the showers concealed the entire conversation causing fear to bubble up inside of her stomach.

Did they know?

Had someone been watching them last night?

The guards left as quickly as they came. Without a word to her old friends she made her way through the crowd pushing those in her way to the side. When she arrived to Gambit his face was black with anger. She could only guess as to the conversation but his eyes told her that something was terribly wrong.

"Gambit-" her voice was soft.

She hadn't even noticed that her friends had followed her nor did she notice that the twins had vanished. He reached out to her and pulled her tightly against him. It wasn't really a hug but more like a desperate plea to keep her close to his side. He watched the room suspiciously not even looking at her as he said, "Gambit fight tonight chere. He don know why tey come here to tell'em but they do."

"What are you thinking' sugah?" she whispered back glancing around the room in her own paranoia.

"Tey wan him to kill te new ones," his voice was grim.

"What are ya talkin' bout bub?" Logan cut in parting the two with his words.

She closed her eyes.

Anywhere else.

She opened them back up and turned to the man holding her arm, "You can't."

"Don give me tat Rogue," he snapped suddenly, "If I don ten tey'll kill Gambit. Tose guards tell Gambit tat it's a death match. If he don fight tey guards will kill him."

She wandered at that moment how many times one person's heart could break. Eventually there had to be a point where it couldn't break any more.

Right?

"Listen bub-" Logan started to say.

She cut him off, "Logan you don't understand."

"What are you talking about Rogue," now it was Bobby's turn to interrupt, "Don't tell me your gonna side with this guy? Are you even listening? He's talking about killing us! We're your friends!"

Friends…

The word seemed to have an empty meaning as if it had been spoken in a language long forgotten.

She could feel herself loosing all control. Slowly the seems of her life were becoming unraveled. She needed to get away to fly from her and a decision she knew he was waiting for. They were clawing at her psyche every single one of them dragging their talons across her mind. Her mind drew blank and a cloud of darkness filtered in.

An escape.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Remy Gambit

_**Note: **Okay I know it has been a while since I have written but I have been working on an original novel. I think it will be a hit if I can just get out the words... but anyways I'll try to up-date major and I hope ya'll like this story!_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own X-Men._

* * *

_"Starting from here, let's make a promise. You and me, let's just be honest. We're gonna run, nothing can stop us_  
_Even the night that falls all around us."_

_-Not Gonna Get Us, T.A.T.U._

**Chap****ter Eleven:**

**Gambit (aka Remy)**

Grabbing her before she ever hit the ground, Gambit cradle her head in the crook of his arm glancing around to see if any of the guards had noticed she had passed out. He was torn, torn between the concern of her fainting and the anger that these strangers had instigated her stress. Friends of hers or not if the battle came about as indeed it was promised to, he would kill them in order to survive. After all that was all the fights were about, survival of the fittest. Shaking her shoulders roughly he whispered, "Hey chere now tis not te time for this."

She made no movement. Her eyes were firmly closed and through his palms on her skin he could feel an unusual warmth penetrating through. This startled him as his energy began to drain so slowly from his body it was agonizing. Then the memories flooded his mind again.

"_Hey! Hey get back here!"_

_The store clerk threw a vase at his head missing him by inches. He was scared, not by the police who by now had arrived with guns in hand, but of his father if attempted to abandon this commison. Scaling the large fence in front of him, he managed to get a little further ahead of them all. Just a few more blocks and he would be home._

The sudden jerk of someone snatching her away from took him back to the present. They were daring he would give them that. His eyes focused as he saw the animal like man she had referred to as Logan pull her away very careful not to touch her skin while maintaining the towels coverage. Too bad he thought gruffly, she had a nice body why not show it off?

But then, he came to realize, they were in a prison's shower not alone somewhere. The thought of another man seeing her was creating a deep jealousy inside his stomach. He was off his knees instantly pointing a finger at the intruder, "Let her go."

"Wha- just who the hell do you think you are?" the teenager to the man spat out as he moved forward, "Rogue is our friend!"

"Some friends you are cher," he snapped stepping forward aggressively, "If she was your friend, ten why she here now?"

Startled the boy feel quiet for a moment, seeming to debate the logical question inside his mind. Gambit could see the gears turning ever so slowly. Taking advantage of the boy's shocked silence he added with more disgust, "Seems te me if she was a friend, she would not be in tis hell."

He moved forward past the boy, ready to snatch Rogue out of the man's grasp when the signal that the showers had ended echoed through the concrete walls. The man saw him coming and growled, "Not so fast bub."

"I don know who bub is but Rogue is not leaving with you," it was a warning not a statement.

"Well she sure as hell ain't goin with you," the boy finally snapped out of his dazed glaring angrily.

"Try and stop me kid."

It seemed there would be a fight after all.

Rogue's eyes slowly opened, but they were not their emerald color as he noticed. No they were definitely not green they were more of a glowing yellow at first, and then slowly faded to a deep crimson. He had never seen anything like it before in his life. If it was part of her mutation then there was a problem. She held five collars, there was no way her powers were strong enough to deflect the genetics the collar suppressed. And if this was not her mutation, then just exactly what the hell was she?

Maybe she was alien he decided.

He had never met one personally but there were stranger things going on in this world than life forms on another planet. A faint smile emerged on his lips if she was a being from beyond he needed to go to her planet. If all the women looked like her then he would be one very happy man.

Shifting the crimson orbs in his direction Rogue never said a word as she pushed Logan aside, slinging him against the wall. Panic erupted in the showers as the remaining prisoners fled save for one who watch intently with her yellow eyes. The guards ran toward them weapons in hand but never made it as far as a few feet before a shock wave was sent through the air knocking all down but its transmitter.

The ground under her bare feet burned black as if there had been a fire but no heat was ever emitted. Panic struck him, her collars where slowly ripping apart. He jumped to his feet instantly, not noticing that the towel he wore (at her demand) had fallen. He had to stop her from trying to escape; if the collar fell it would automatically kill her. Alien or not, mutant or not, he couldn't let her be murdered. He had to stop her somehow.

Strong gusts of wind tore at him as he braced against the pulsing electrified air around him. The pace was slow but he was making progress until finally both hands rested on her now nude shoulders. Her towel had long since fallen to the ground. Trying to focus on the deadly situation had hand, and not the lust forming in his lower regions he shook her hard, "Stop tis chere."

When she spoke the voice was not her own but of many, "We will not stop."

"We?"

He could feel the fingers he was gripping her with burning but did not let go. Somehow he had to stop this, some way he was going to keep her safe and alive. Somehow…

"We are the many in which she has taken. We will remain in control. She will not return. Now let go!"

With the final sentence he was sent flying across the room into the nearby shower head. Pain erupted through his back, as if his spine had been snapped into from the toss. Bewildered how she could throw a grown man all the way across the room, he opened his eyes.

His father had often said that the most beautiful things in life were the deadliest. How right he had been. Looking her now, he didn't know which to feel: lust, fear…love?

He must have hit his head harder than he had thought. Pushing himself up from the floor he was able to determine that she had broken a few of his bones. An abusive relationship was not a good way to start.

He noticed that the people who claimed to be her friends were engaged in a fight against the guards. They were protecting her, but what they failed to realize was maybe she was not the one who needed protecting. He fear deeply that it would be them who need protection from her. She didn't seem like herself at all but just the opposite.

He sped up.

He had to reach her.

Somehow…

He had to bring his Rogue back.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Marie Rogue

_**Note: **__I love how many people actually like this story. I thought it would make a good story line so I really hope that everyone will continue to love where I am taking it. I promise to keep writing it with fast up-dates now that I managed to over come my slump. I really would like to get like 1000 reviews for one of my stories so remember to keep them up!_

_**Breakdown: **__This chapter is all inside Rogues mind so anything that is not italicized is coming from the outside world. And for anyone wondering my Bobby and Logan have appeared they were featured in one of the early chapters as the new recruits sorry if that confused anyone._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-men._

* * *

"_They don't know- They can't see- Who we are- Fear is the enemy- Hold on tight- Hold on to me."_

_-__All About Us.__ T.A.T.U._

**Chapter Twelve**

**Rogue (aka Anna Marie)**

"Wake up chere!"

_The many._

_That's what they were calling themselves. It was a proper name for there were hundreds of them standing before her with eyes carved out of their sockets, and mouths bleeding. As she peered closer she noticed that it was as if each mouth of these human-like monsters had been sown together with wire and then later cut. They scared her deeply as their disturbing bodies were haunched over so far that many of their finger tips would have touched the ground. That is, if they were able to determine the ground as she could not. There was nothing here in this place- only black playing as the fore and back ground._

_Had she been launched into Hell?_

_And what stood before her, were they actually demons?_

_Was she dead?_

_Or was this all just a horrible nightmare?_

_She did not dare to go near them but from where she stood they all held broken chains on their arms and wrists._

_And they were waiting._

_From the darkness where she stood she knew clearly that they were waiting._

_Waiting on her._

_Waiting on her fail._

_Waiting to take over._

"_Just who the hell are ya'll?" she screamed at them._

_Her voice sounded so weak against the clanking of the many chains. None dared to move forward as they waited. They all seemed so unsure of themselves afraid to take a step forward._

_They were afraid._

_Afraid of her._

_Afraid of what she could do to them if she only wished it._

_But what they failed to realize was she did not want to hurt them. She did not want to hurt anyone. She only wanted to co-exist as a normal human being. She only wanted to enjoy the simplest things in life. The touch of another most of all._

_Did no one understand that?_

_To her it was all but simple._

_Their voices were piercing through her causing to cry out in pain._

"What tis it Rogue? Don scream Gambit is here! Calm down!"

_Tears streaming down her face, the voice proved to be a small seed of peace that was implanted into her soul calming the chaos inside. She needed to escape. She needed to run now before something she'd regret happened. Some how some way she needed to find her place back into the light._

_But there was no light._

_The dimness of darkness was settling its way in as if a bird nestling herself on top of her un-hatched eggs. She feared deeply that if these eggs of darkness hatched that there would never be any kind of escape. There would be only darkness._

_There would be only death._

_Then they all spoke in unison some voices louder than others, "Let us out."_

"_Out of where?" she snapped stepping forward._

_Underneath she could hear a crack as if glass was breaking beneath her weight. She dared not move forward but only to stand still hoping that whatever was holding her up in this dismal place would not break fully._

"_OUT!" they screamed._

_As if the power of their fury was transformed into wind a strong gust of wind crashed against her. Her body fell breaking the surface she stood on completely. As she fell basic human instinct took over causing her to throw her hand up._

"_Gambit?" her voice called out_

"Its okay petite Gambit has you."

_A hand wrapped itself around her wrist jerking her body up before she could fall completely into the darkness. _

Rogue opened her eyes slowly meeting a pair of crimson one staring down at her with wide surprise. Before she could utter a single word someone snatched her away from her hero by her hair. There was a sharp pinch her neck and a cry out that sounded so distant from herself,

As a roar rushed into her ears and her vision blurred she could see several guards slamming Gambit into the ground as he fought his way toward where ever she was being dragged. She noticed no one else only the deep lines carved by wrath in his face.

It would be better she decided quietly to herself for him to lose his anger.

He was so handsome when he was sincere.

She quietly noted to herself she would have to tell him later.

Her vision now becoming blocky blurs she could feel her body numbing slowly from the tips of her fingers and slowly working its way in. Someone was calling her name from somewhere but she could not determine who it was.

She closed her eyes.

And so began the visions.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Remy Gambit

_**Note: **__Okay here is the new up-date and I hope everyone likes it! Thanks for all the great reviews I really appreciate them. Also I finally have __Passion Flowers & Cajun Spices__ up so anyone who loves this story should read that one as well. It's a bit longer than a one-shot but at the same time its too short to be a story hence my mini-story. There might be a possible expansion on it but I highly doubt it. If I can't manage to get the idea out clearly and sharply in five sections then I will extend it. But in all honesty I think five is enough._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-Men or the X-Men story line._

* * *

"_I can't tell you what it really is. I can only tell you what it feels like. And right now there's a steel knife. In my windpipe. I can't breathe. But I still fight. While I can fight. As long as the wrong feels right. It's like I'm in flight. High of a love. Drunk from the hate. It's like I'm huffing paint. And I love it the more that I suffer. I suffocate. And right before I'm about to drown. She resuscitates me."_

_- Eminem featuring Rihanna, __Love the Way You Lie_

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Gambit (aka Remy)**

He didn't fight that night against Rogue's friends or any of the nights following for the new few weeks. Apparently as he later found out, once his punishment was over and he was allowed to go back to his room, the duke and duchess left on official business. They had postponed the fights to a more convenient time which for them was on New Years. He was not looking forward to the choice he would have to make in less than six months but he only hoped he could reach a conclusion that didn't end with Rogue hating him for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile there were more concerns that raked at his mind the enter time he had been locked away. Where the hell had they taken her?

He knew that for the most part any one who resisted the Owners were killed instantly and their bodies were dumped in the sea. After all, many times as punishment for his violent out bursts during the earlier days of his incarnation, he had been the one dumping them. And of course, he would come across those innocenes that he had killed in battle but…

But in all honesty what the hell was he suppose to do?

He knew that hoping they had spared her was a child's game he shouldn't play; he did secretly hope she had somehow managed to escape them. That was the only thing that kept him sane as he endure beating after beating as well as being locked inside the tiny cell for days and weeks at a time.

By the end of the month, the punishment determined by the Owners, he was a ghost of the figure he once was. His muscles were dimension from the lack of nutrient ion and sunlight causing him to become somewhat frail. His body had endured many conditions during his stay here but none were ever as harsh as these were. As the guards shoved him into his old cell he noticed that there were a few different details that were not there before.

First off, instead of having a stacked bed such as the one he and Rogue shared, there were simply three cots. The bed had been removed and he could have only guessed that his stash of items had been removed as well. The bastards didn't even have the decency to leave his cigarettes behind. Oh the day when he would seek out his revenge on the Owners. He could only dream now, but one day he vowed to snuff out their demonic lives one by one.

And slowly he might add.

The second thing he noticed was that any signs of Rogue ever being there had been erased. There wasn't even the slightest hint of her smell or a single strand of her hair in the cell. There was nothing. As if she had been erased from existence in one full clean swoop.

But, he tried to reassure himself, it wasn't a clean swoop at all. He knew for a fact she had been there no matter how much they tried to cover her existence up. She had made an impression on him and he was not willingly to ever give that memory up. So for now, she was only a figment of his imagination or at least that was what they were trying to make him believe. But what they failed to realize was he couldn't ever be broken, not through beatings and most certainly not through mind games.

Leaning against the prison bars he knew that his cell mates were in the arena right now fighting for their lives. Maybe, he thought gruesomely, they would die there and be saved from this hell on earth. And maybe with the cell opened with free space they would return Rogue to him.

It was all wishful thinking and he knew that.

Suddenly as if hit in the head with a brick, exhaustion encompassed his body. There was a good chance he would be fighting tomorrow which meant he would need all the sleep he could possibly get. He tried to put all thoughts relating to Rogue out of his mind and for a while he succeeded. If he thought about her he would only lose more of his sanity, and he was barely holding on to it by a thread. So instead of trying to figure out answers to questions he could never ask he thought of many things and of many women.

But all these women lead back to him comparing them to his southern burgundy haired chere which in turn made him restless. Giving up on the idea of being distracted through women he went down the path of many things. And just like the women he found himself thinking of all the things, of sexual and of sensual nature, he wanted and didn't want to do with Rogue. Finding sleep this night would be a challenge.

_She stood in front on him her arms out stretched towards him as if trying to embrace him. _

_He was calling out to her to step away from the cliff. If she so much as breathed wrong she would most surely fall to her death and there would be no saving her. But he had to. He had to save her not only for fear of losing her but also for the sake of the children._

_The children._

_They needed to have their mother to guide them._

_They would be the ones to change things._

_But if she fell then the children would not be born. Somehow he had to find a way to reach her before the darkness stepped forward. He was in arm length of her now his palm outstretched in front of her. He pleaded with his eyes for her to take it and come back to safety. She looked doubtful, but soon their palms touched._

_And then…_

_And then it was too late._

_She was falling away from off the edge. Not thinking his plan thoroughly he jumped in after her. But they were no longer falling. They were being dragged down by creatures he was sure belong to Hell. At first their arms were extremely elongated as they snatched Rogue from the cliff. Their bony fingers ripping her away from him as they pulled them both down further. And there were threats. Threats he heard clearly enough to understand their meaning but was incapable of repeating word for word what they had said._

_They were the many._

_And they wanted out…_

Gambit felt someone shake him from his nightmare. He was appreciative not to finish to the ending but at the same time he was annoyed. Two angry pair of beady eyes glared animalistic at him as a snarl was produced, "You're the one from the showers aren't you bub?"

Blinking for a minute, he was finally able to place a name to the face, "You're Rogue's friend no?"

Picking him up by the shoulders Logan moved him the middle cot, "You're on my cot."

Gambit said nothing as the announcement was made that lights were out. A new announcement was also tacked on to the end of the statement, "And if any one is heard talking there will be dire consciences. Here is just a small taste of what we will do to you if you disobey us-"

The voice cut off and a loud cry of a woman could be heard echoing through the silent hallways. He was more than just a little glad that he had figured out the woman was not Rogue, but at the same time was disappointed. He had not time to ask her friends if she was alive or not and didn't dare to break the new no talking policy that was viciously enforced.

But then again, he didn't need anyone to explain to him the reasoning behind the new guidelines.

It was all too clear to him.

They were worried.

The Owners were for some unknown reason afraid of an up rising. That had to be the reason for this and so many other new rules in had observed in the hour of his release. They were hoping to break all their prisoners of any notion of escape.

And that notion in itself had him curious.

After all, this entire time they seemed so confident in their collars. But ever since they were unable to suppress Rogue's mutation fully they had began to panic. It was small at first but now he could smell their fear of an up rising.

And this gave him hope.

He couldn't help but feel that if Rogue had been killed by the Owners for her defiance then the new rules would not be needed to be enforced. However, he had the feeling that she was alive and well.

If not then they would have shown her limp body as proof that rebellion was not an option and would have been done with it.

But creating new rules meant they felt they needed protection.

And if they needed protection that meant that somewhere in their defenses was a weakness.

And if he was correct then he could only logically guess that Rogue had found that weakness.

But how much longer would they keep her alive?

Unless…

Unless they couldn't kill her.

Now there was a thought.

He could feel the peacefulness of sleep drifting over his weary eyes. If she was immortal or at the very least immune to the poison then a good nights rest was not too far off in his future. The corners of his mouth turned slightly upward in the darkness, if he was right then perhaps there was hope after all.

He only needed to confirm his suspensions'.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Marie Rogue

_**Note: **__I'm glad it has been noticed I am trying to up-date every day. This story is going to consist of 50 chapters so I figured that yeah I need faster up-dates than every so often. Not to mention I have like this overwhelming inspiration. I'm don't know actually where it came from but I think I'm addicted lol. _

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-Men or the X-Men storyline._

* * *

"_All the right friends in all the wrong places. So yeah, we're going down. All They got all the right moves in all the right faces. So yeah, we're going down. Just paint the picture of a perfect place. They got it better than what anyone's told you. They'll be the King of Hearts, and you're the Queen of Spades. Then we'll fight for you like we were your soldiers."_

_- One Republic, __All the Right Moves_

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Rogue (aka Anna Marie)**

_Two figures stood before her their faces blurred into gray smudges. She could tell they were both the same age and both of them belonged to the same family. They were telling her something, a secret that only they knew._

_She could see the blackness of their mouths moving but couldn't make out the words and neither could she hear them._

_It was a warning._

_A warning against some kind of evil._

_An evil near by._

_They were screaming at her to leave. They were screaming at her to leave and never look back. They were screaming at her not to give in._

_But why were they screaming?_

_She tried to tell them that. She tried her best to comfort them but they were terrified. _

_And then they started running._

_They ran away from her._

_They feared she would hurt them._

_No._

_Not here._

_They feared the many…_

She laid on top of a steel bed, her arms tied to her sides and her legs chained. She wasn't sure on how long she had been there but she did know that it had been a while. Possibly days, but never once had they released her.

She was constantly exhausted.

They were pumping something into her system through her IV line connected to her hand. Whatever it was pulled her strength away leaving her weak and defenseless. Her throat was parched, they had not given her any solid foods or liquids the entire time she had been there. She could only guess that she gained the sufficient nutrients she needed through the IV otherwise she would be dead.

But then perhaps she was dying.

She shook the thought from her mind causing a rush of dizziness to explode behind her eyes. She couldn't think like that. She had to believe that she would be alright. Some how. She forced herself to think of other things.

But she couldn't.

He hadn't been exaggerating about this place being hell. There would be no escape and she had to face that fact. If she allowed herself to be eaten up by false hope she would go insane. He was the only thing good about this place.

And she feared deeply she would never see him again.

Sleep was threatening to over take her body again. However, she fought it. She was scared to fall into a deep slumber for fear that the enemy would appear once again. Even though she was incapable of fighting back in her weaken state she would rather watch them than not know. It gave her little comfort but still comfort was comfort. A little was much better than none.

But more than that reason she feared sleeping for the visions would surely began again. She feared every time she closed her eyes she would see the faces of the children. Dream after dream, pieces were revealed to her that it was her that was hurting them. It was her they feared.

And each time they became more graphic.

And each time he died she woke herself up screaming.

She wasn't sure why this new strand of nightmares had begun but they struck fear inside of her more than the prison did. She couldn't help but feel it was all her fault that in her dream she was the one causing all the chaos.

Well, not her exactly but the many inside of her.

They craved blood.

They craved control.

And they wanted out.

She watched as the doctor came to her examining her body and then clicking his tongue. Beside him Pig glared down at her darkly. He was impatient as the doctor counted her pulse. When the medical processional was done he snapped, "And?"

Turning to the other man he replied, "It is just as we feared. The poison has no effect on her. Even a larger portion just sends her in a coma like state but doesn't kill her. Somehow her body is immune. So I took it upon myself to test our other poisons and it is the same as well. With the many mutations in this world we knew this loop hole in our system would appear. I even combined these all of our poisons into a quantity that would kill ten-thousand people and this is the result."

Even in the fog inside her head she understood what the good doctor was saying.

"Then we have to get rid of her," Pig hissed slamming his palm on the doctor's tray containing many empty needles that once held the poisons. Jerking his palm up and inspecting it he added, "I'll go inform the Owners."

"I have already done that."

"And what did they say?"

"Getting rid of the specimen, as you so elegantly put it, is not an option. They replied that since the Duke seems to be expecting her New Years night after the fights that she must live."

"WHAT? So because some guy wants to wet his snake they endanger our entire operation?"

"They know the risks, however the Duke provides them with protection as well as investments they refuse to endanger the already unstable relationship. If the Duke is displeased, he could dispose us all even the identity of the Owners. This is a risk they refuse to take. So instead, they want us to keep her isolation until then. Especially away from the Cajun fighter."

"Gambit? What does he have to do with this?"

"They all feel it was a mistake to put the girl in the same room as he. While he is a cold killer, he seems to have warmed his heart to the girl. Many of the prisoners as well as the guards have witnessed their relationship. If she is returned to him and the loop hole is revealed there will be certain mutiny."

"So then we get rid of him."

"But of course, but not now."

"What do you mean?"

"The Duchess is very fond of our Cajun. If she finds that he has been murdered she will become a liability. The Owners as well as the Duke have devised a plan in which the collar will poison him during his New Year's fight. He will die then. Once the Duke has his way with the girl she will die as well. It is all very simple."

"And how will he kill her if poison can't?"

"Strangle her but of course."

Rogue tried her best to act as if she had heard nothing but still remained in the coma-like state. Some how or another she had to get word to Gambit of their plan. But the question remained:

How?


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Remy Gambit

_**Note: **__Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. My sister had her son! He was born at 32 weeks but hes a long lil booger coming in at four pounds ten ounces and like 18 inches. He's got some big feet lol! We are very happy. The first boy outta of my mediate family. My dad is like a giddy because he has three daughters and two granddaughters and now finally a lil boy has been thrown in. Unfortunately my cousin drowned in the river the very same week so it was bitter sweet. Anyways on with this little master piece of mine. _

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-Men or the X-Men storyline._

* * *

"_Carry on my wayward son. There will be peace when you are done. Lay you're weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more. Masquerading a man with reason. My charade is the event of the season. And if I claim to be a wise man. Well, surely that means that I don't know."_

_- __Wayward Son__, Kansas_

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Gambit (aka Remy)**

The fights would begin again that night in a few minutes. Knowing the penalties of being late, he risked the chance of being caught as he slipped back into the cells with the aid of Saint John. As they made their quickly past the many cells of the non-fighting mutants that night they held a short conversation. John had managed to locate the whereabouts of his only surviving child. His situation, which really did sadden Gambit, had grown more complicated when learned that the Duchess had been the one to acquire the child. According to John, he had seen the whole transaction as he had been assigned to be one of the guards on duty. He had managed to hide behind several other guards so his daughter, Adrianna, could not see him. It broke his heart immensely, but he was still convinced Gambit would be able to help him.

With a quick promise that he would do whatever he could they finally stopped in front of a cell with only a single bed inside. John unlocked the door, and slid it to the side allowing Gambit to enter. After he had locked him inside, he stood on guard glancing nervously down the hallways. They both knew none of the other prisoners who had might of seen them, would dare utter a word to any guard. John, alone, was insurance of that since he often helped the prisoners with any thing he possibly could. And if there was a prisoner with the hopes of gaining better position with the owners by reporting all the events inside the prison, they wouldn't be listened to right now.

Paranoia.

All the guards were afraid of an uprising. With tensions as high as the atmosphere, most guards had declared prisoners to no longer speak to each other let alone to them. If anyone was heard, they were beaten. There were no expectations.

There were no special circumstances.

Just the other night, Gambit had witnessed the beating and rape of a teenage girl who had actually cried out when a rat climbed onto her bed. At this point, he was happy that Rogue was no longer in his cell. His roommates didn't tempt him in the ways that she did. He felt no need to correspond with them.

Shaking the shoulder of his target, he waited for her to open her yellow eyes. When she finally stood up, she glanced around the room unsure of what was going on. Signaling to her to keep her voice low, he whispered, "We need te talk chere."

"About what?" if her voice was as lethal as it sounded he was sure he would be dead at this very moment.

"Tey girl Rogue," he paused unsure of what to ask.

He didn't need to formulate his thoughts coherently because she seemed to have understood quite clearly. Moving to sit on the edge of her bed, she leaned her weight onto her arms, and crossed her legs. With a coy smile she whispered, "Didn't I already tell you to leave her alone?"

"Well Gambit don listen much," he shook off her eyes which were sending him warning signs as she watched him, "How do you know her?"

"That's for me to know and you to mind your own business."

"Gambit askin' for help. You scratch his back maybe he scratch yours in return."

"And what can you do for me?" she eyed him doubtfully as she smirked.

"Gambit can do lots of things chere. Only say the word, and he do whatever you like, but in return for his services you need to answer all his questions."

"Hn," she thought for a long moment before deciding on her response. When she had reached the final decision she spoke as if she was talking to a child, "Alright Gambit I will play with you. I've seen you fight and you have skills I could use to my advantage in the future. Ask what you want, but if you don't fulfill your end I promise a long painful punishment."

He raised an eyebrow, replying before he had the chance to think out his thoughts, "Sounds kinky cher."

Her smirk instantly fell into a frown, "If you aren't going to take this seriously then leave. Aren't the barbaric actions these humans are forcing us to do about to begin? I would hate for them to scar that handsome face of yours."

"Gambit got plenty of scars petite, but no all of them on his face. But," his voice grew serious as he leaned against the opposite wall away from her, "Gambit don wanna be here all day. Tell me about Rogue. Everythin' you know don leave nothing out."

"Ah," she clicked her tongue, "That is a very long story. How about I give you an a little teaser instead? Rogue was one of the many mutant children I adopted under the name of Carrie Farmer. I posed as her mother's sister for the longest time. As far as I know her mother is presumed dead but that was never confirmed and her father ended up in prison. I took over her care until her powers appeared."

"Why did you pose as her mother's sister? Gambit thought mutations only appear when they young teenagers, how you know she was even one of us?"

"A mutant who could see the future told me. Destiny said she would be one of the most powerful with an unlimited amount of potential if harnessed correctly."

"Harnessed correctly?"

"You really are a simpleton aren't you?" she hissed glaring at him, "Do you even know what your precious Rogue is capable of?"

"What do you mean?"

"She has the ability to absorb not only mutations but skills, knowledge, pretty much anything of anyone she touches. Later she will be able to control her mutation even further, meaning she can bring forth anything she has ever absorbed at will power. She is the ultimate weapon with the proper training of course."

"And you intend to train her?"

"Yes I do," she paused then added, "Me and Erik."

"Erik?"

"You'll meet him soon enough. He's coming here to free all of us, and with the aid of Rogue, we will begin to move forward uniting all of us underneath the Brotherhood."

"Brotherhood?"

"Do you need a pamphlet," she snapped as if he was suppose to know of these things, "The Brotherhood of Mutants you swamp inbred rat."

Growing annoyed with her constant beray of insults he held up his finger giving her his own warning, "Easy chere with the insults on Gambit. He's not dey enemy. Now ten, are you saying you have a plan to escape?"

She did not reply but her silence was enough for him to understand the unstated answer so he went on, "If tats the case ten you will kill yourself. These collars are triggered if they are tampered with. Tey's no way around dat."

She laughed wickedly, "These collars are made of metal they will be dealt with when the time comes."

Unsure of her meaning he did not so easily give in the doubts he held, "If you are so smart Gambit wonders why you here in tey first place."

"Was that a question or a statement?"

"That was an observation."

"I didn't agree to this arrangement because I wanted to here your idiotic observations Cajun."

"Fine," she was tough one he had to give her that, "Consider it one of Gambit's questions."

"I'm recruiting."

"For the Brotherhood?"

"Exactly. When mutants started disappearing I started an investigation with my aids. I learned of this place, infiltrated it as a spy, and have been gathering intelligence ever since. Any more questions?"

"Just a few more then Gambit will be on his way. So is your plan to offer the mutants freedom in order for them to join your cause?"

"Very good," she clapped her hands, mocking what he had put together.

"And what about those who don join?"

"They will be released as well," she shrugged her indigo blue shoulders, "Our goal is make alliances not punish those who have already been imprisoned once. All we want his a better future for our people without the human race. Nothing more, nothing less."

"And what about the normal humans?"

"We will do what we must."

He wasn't sure of he liked her answer or not but he did know he needed to leave soon. Reluctantly he moved toward the opening of the door, "One more ting, what you got in store for Gambit?"

As she laid back down on her bed she snickered, "I'll let you know."

John slid the door back into place, and as he locked it she added onto the statement, "Oh and Gambit? If you don't remember to keep your end of this little exchange there will be retribution. Remember that. You are indebt to me for all the information I gave you, and I always collect."


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Marie Rogue

_**Note: **__Okay here is the next chapter in this story. Don't forget to review!_

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own X-Men or the X-men storyline._

* * *

"_Open your eyes and look outside, find the reasons why. You've been rejected, and now you can't find what you left behind. Be strong, be strong now. Too many, too many problems. Don't know where she belongs, where she belongs. She wants to go home, but nobody's home. It's where she lies, broken inside. With no place to go, no place to go to dry her eyes. Broken inside."_

_- __Nobody's Home__, Avril_

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Rogue (aka Anna Marie)**

"_You aren't real are you?" Rogue stood in front of a boy who wasn't much older than herself. She couldn't see his face but she knew that in this dream he was someone very important to her._

"_No," he answered honestly._

"_Then why am I dreaming about you?" she questioned as she ran her hands through her long hair unsure of what else she was suppose to say._

"_Why do we dream anyways?" he replied to her with a question._

"_That's not answer," she pouted unsure of the dream landscape. Everything here seemed so familiar to her and yet it was all blurred to keep her from recognizing anything. The boy was at the center of it all, and she couldn't but feel that he was indeed real even if the dream lacked all the important details of reality._

"_Sorry," he sounded sincere in his apology. He reached down plucking a small flower from the ground. Although she could not see his eyes she knew he was watching it as he twirled it between his fingers. And then he went on to say, "I know you're lost."_

"_Yeah well what gave you the first clue?" she couldn't help the sarcasm that was drenched in her voice._

"_I want to help you," he insisted never looking up from the flower he was playing with._

_She sighed, "You can't help me."_

_He lifted his faceless head up to look at her, "I can't come to where you are- not yet anyways but I came here to give you a message."_

"_And what is that?"_

"_When the time comes go with him."_

_Startled she asked, "What?"_

"_I can't explain to you right now. But later when you are given the choice between him and the life you once had choose him."_

"_I don't understand."_

"_I'm sorry I don't have much time here but listen very carefully: no matter what happens you don't give up, okay? You understand that right?"_

"_Yeah," she began to panic as the dream started to fade, "But why are you telling me this."_

_His body was the last thing to fade from her sight but his voice echoed inside her head, "Don't let them break you."_

Rogue woke from her latest dream with a thick coating of sweat covering her entire body. She was so tired, her body felt as if it weighed four times as much as it really did. To her disappointment she was still in the lab of the experimental doctor instead of back inside the professors school for gifted youngsters. There was no one in the room at this moment, but the monitor connected to her head gave off a sharp beep. Not missing a beat, the doctor entered the room with a pair of scissors in his hand.

Walking to where she was tied down he informed her, "You are one gifted child but you know this I assume."

She said nothing.

She refused to give the doctor the satisfaction of a conversation with her.

He laid the metal object he was carrying down and pointed to a bag dripping into her IV line connected to her hand, "You see this young woman? This is a bag filled with venom from the most poisonous plants known to man. There is enough toxican in there to kill an entire city the size of New York. And yet your remarkable body is capable of fighting it all off."

Now there was something she had not known.

But then how many times had she touched Logan with his healing ability?

"It is truly remarkable," he paused as he picked up the scissors and moved them to her hair, "I will be obtaining some samples of your body today. And tomorrow we shall begin to do some experiments to see what exactly are your limits."

Her throat felt dry as he began to snip away at her long locks. She was resentful that this place went so far as to cut her hair, not to mention all the other horrors. They were purposely trying to dehumanize her to further attempt to break her spirit. Well it would not work, she decided, as she remembered the words of the boy, she wouldn't give in no matter what they did to her. The fact of the matter was, they wanted to see how far they could push her body, and so did she.

Knowing what she could and could not do would be important information in the future.

She already knew what she was capable of but maybe this vile man in front of her would be able to determine what she was capable of with these collars. That was information she could use.

"I remember during the second great war," his shakily voice continued as he placed her severed hair into bag with a red seal, "inside the camps there was a boy with abilities just like you and the other prisoners. He was able to move metal with just a mere thought."

Her eyes widened slightly, was he actually talking about Magneto?

Or was there another person out in the world with the same talents as him?

"I was a young man back then. History would name me the Angel of Death inside the camps."

Just how old was this guy?

"But to make a long story short," he swab the inside of her mouth before placing the utensil inside a cylinder tub with a rubber stopper, "His gift was so startling that for the rest of the war we harnessed his powers through anger. I wonder if the same trick will apply to yourself, hmmm?"

He slid the needle of a syringe into her arm drawing blood as he did so, "But then it has been my knowledge that different individuals have different triggers. Some respond to anger others to sadness or depression, or to happiness."

He then pulled out a small metal object and began to scrape the outside of her skin. She let out a groan of pain as he slid the tiny mesh object against her skin collecting her skin layers with it. Rogue was sure that if she was capable of screaming she would as he skinned the small section of her stomach he was working on.

"It makes me sad," he muttered as he collected the cells and placed them inside a round container, "I lost that little experiment of mine after we lost the war. But now I have you my pet, and we will be having lots of fun."

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he forced her to open her mouth. She tried to struggle as he tongs grasped on of her bath teeth but she was unable to fight against. He snatched, and she shut her eyes tightly trying to imagine her favorite place.

_She was sitting in the middle of a forest, next to a small stream bubbling over some rocks. As she laid down she watched the trees dance above her, swaying to the beat of the wind. Over head, a large eagle flew high above circling for it's next prey. She turned on her side, and he laid next to her sleeping._

She wasn't sure if it was the pain that snatched her out of her day dream or if the reminder of him brought her back to reality. She nearly gagged on her own blood as the doctor place the tube in another one of glass containers. And just as she feared, he was far from being done as he picked up a scalpel.


End file.
